SEPANG, Oct 15 — Prayers and the strong support of his parents and family members are the best impetus for Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi who put up an exceptional performance by bagging three gold medals at the 2018 Asian Para Games (APG) which came to a close in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday.
The national paralympian who is fondly called ‘Dik Wan’ among his friends admitted his parents, Mohamad Puzi, 58, and Lailah Salleh, 50 are the two most important individuals who drive him to bring honours for the country at the international sporting arena.
“Dik Wan wants to thank my parents, family members and teammates for the success.
“Not forgetting National Sports Council (MSN) and National Sports Institute (ISN) staff who assisted Dik Wan while in Jakarta,” he told reporters upon returning from Indonesia at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) with the last batch of national para athletes here last night.
They were received by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, MSN and ISN officers as well as families of national para athletes.
In this regard, Mohamad Puzi was proud of his son’s achievements at the games.
“I am thankful to Allah S.W.T on my son’s superb performance at the Asian Para Games and we, the entire family hope he would continue to do well in other championships in future,” said Mohamad Puzi who arrived at KLIA after completing pilgrimage with his wife in Mekah.
Besides the three gold medals, Mohamad Ridzuan also set one world record.
His record of 11.87 seconds in the men’s 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) erased the previous world record of 11.90 seconds created by Russian athlete, Evgenii Shvetcov at the IPC World Paralympic Championship in Lyon, France in 2013.
He also won the gold in the men’s 400m T36 in 59.36 seconds.
The Perlis boy garnered his third gold in the long jump T36 with a new games record of 5.49m.
Mohamad Ridzuan became a historic figure in the country sports history when he emerged as the first Malaysian to win a gold medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. — Bernama
