Malaysian para athletes continued to stamp their mark with a haul of another eight gold medals on Day 2 of the competition at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday (Sept 19).
Eddy Bernard, a 16-year-old cerebral palsy athlete who won gold in the T37 100m final with a time of 12.45s on Monday, claimed the T22 long jump title with a distance of 5.76m on Tuesday. Vietnamese Truong Tan Hien took silver (5.47m) and Nguyen Huu Thinh won bronze (4.48m).
Hemala Devi Eni Kutty also won the discus gold in the women’s F11/12 category clearing a distance of 10.09m, pushing Jeanette Aceveda of the Philippines for silver while Brunei’s Dayang Nor Hensan Awang took bronze.
The 27-year-old Hemala will compete in the F12 javelin event on Thursday where she hopes to defend her crown.
Meanwhile, Zulhaiala Hezat Zainal Abidin won the nation’s third gold in the men’s 400m T13 (54.80s) followed by Nasharudin Mohd (49.85s), who defeated Indonesia’s Felipus Kolymau – the 2015 gold medallist, Ashraf Haisham (men’s 800m T46 – 2:04.05s), S.Thavanesvaran (men’s 400m T44 – 56.43s) and Mohd Erwan Hasnoor (Long jump T38 (celebral palsy) – 5.49m).
Umi Syuhadah Idris raked in Malaysia’s last gold medal of the day in the women’s 3kg shot put F37 event by clearing a distance of 7.92m.
After two days of competition, the Malaysians won 14 gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals. Indonesia leads the athletics medal tally chart with a haul of 20 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals.
