KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — National long jump para athlete Abdul Latif Romly has failed in his mission for a third straight gold medal at the World Para Athletics Championship after finishing as runner-up in the men’s long jump T20 category (learning disability) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday.
The 2016 Best Sportsman of the Year, who won back-to-back gold medals in 2015 and 2017, recorded a jump of 7.24 metres on his sixth and final attempt, which was a far cry from the world record of 7.64m he set at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games en route to clinching the gold medal.
Ranki Oberai of the Netherlands set a new championship record after posting a jump of 7.39m, while Roberto Carlos Chala Espinoza of Ecuador settled for bronze with a new South American record of 6.88m, according to the Paralympic website;www.paralympic.org.
Abdul Latif’s medal helped Malaysia to collect a total of three silvers and one bronze.
The other two silvers came from Jonathan Wong Kar Gee in the men’s long jump T12 category (vision impairment) and Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli in men’s shot put T20 (learning disability), while the bronze was delivered by Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi in the men’s 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) event. — Bernama
