KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Siti Noor Iasah Mohamad Arrifin narrowly missed claiming another medal for Malaysia in the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janerio after an upset dive by Poland Barbara Niewiedzial in the T20 (intellectual disability) 400m sprint final.
The Johorean who set a new Asian record of 58.55s in the earlier heat was primed to score at least a bronze, but was beat to third place when Niewiedzial — the world record holder for the event — dove towards the finishing line, crossing it with her lower half though she landed flat on her face, The New Straits Times Online reported today.
The Malaysian contingent filed a protest against the result, but the jury dismissed it as diving is allowed in the rulebook, the news portal added.
“I had beaten her in the first 200m and in the last 100m I also had the energy to push and was in front of her,” Siti Noor Iasah was quoted saying.
The 26-year-old was reported to be visibly upset by her narrow loss, but remained upbeat at having broken her own record of 58.96s at the Asian Games.
“I am proud of my performance because I did it the right way and did not act in a way which could have injured myself [by diving].
“I did not expect that I could do 58.55s, I am not sure if any of the juniors can beat that in the future,” she reportedly said.
Breanna Clark from the US took the gold for the women’s 400m with her time of 57.79s, while the silver went to Ukraine’s Natalia Iezlovetska who clocked in at 58.48s. Niewiedzial came in third at 58.51s.
Malaysia has bagged three golds in the Paralympic Games so far, contributed by runner Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi in the men’s 100m T36 (cerebral palsy category) dash; Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli in the men’s shot put F20 (intellectual disability) event; and Abdul Latif Romly in the men’s long jump T20 (learning disability) event.
All three men also set new world records: Mohamad Ridzuan with a finish time of 12.07s, Muhammad Ziyad with a distance of 16.84m in the shot put, and 19-year-old Abdul Latif with his 7.60pm jump.
