PETALING JAYA, Oct 7 — All eyes are going to be on two people in particular at the National Sports Day event in Putrajaya tomorrow as gutsy Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli takes on Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Ziyad who won the gold medal in the men’s Paralympics short put at the recent Rio Games has accepted the Cabinet member’s challenge in — of all sports — weightlifting.
“When he said I lift weights, I breathed in sharply. What’s this? That’s far from my field. If short put, that’s fine,” the 26-year-old told ProjekMMO, Malay Mail Online’s sister publication when met at the Olympics and Paralympics award presentation ceremony here yesterday.
“He challenged me, so I will accept. If he can, I can too,” he added.
Ziyad, 26, created a new world record in the F20 short put at the Rio Paralympics with a distance of 16.84 metres, erasing the 16.29m record set by Todd Hodgetts from Australia in the 2012 London Games.
Asked how much he could lift, Ziyad said he was uncertain, adding that it would depend on the politician’s performance tomorrow.
“I will see, how much [in kilogrammes] he challenges me,” the athlete said spiritedly in anticipation of tomorrow’s Sports Day.
“I’ll play with him first and then I’ll play with the others.”
