By Rafiqi Yusoff
KUALA LUMPUR, 1 September 2021: Malaysian Paralympic athlete, Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli, was disqualified to win gold in the event following allegation of his late arrival to the call room before the game started.
As detailed by Team Malaysia’s Facebook page, the gold medal was officially conferred on Ukrainian athlete, Maksym Koval, who lodged the protest against Ziyad after his victory.
The report from Astro Arena also detailed that the protest was made against three athletes including Ziyad who was alleged to have entered late into the call room before the event began.
There was a complaint made by a Ukrainian athlete which implied Ziyad, together with other two athletes, who was behind time to enter into the call room, and on this account he was ineligible for participation.
“Ziyad’s participation has been called off which makes him fail to earn a gold medal in this event. Therefore, the gold medal was won by Ukrainian athlete, Maksym Koval.” Astro Arena reported.
Recently, Ziyad contributed the second gold medal for Malaysia in the Tokyo Paralympic Games and also broke the world record for the F-20 category shot put final event, through his third attempt with the record of 17.94m.
Malaysian contingent officers are currently making an appeal and it is reportedly in discussion among the organisers, according to the Astro Arena update.***