By Ameerah Angelina
KUALA LUMPUR, 4 September 2021: Malaysia’s long jump paralympics champion, Abdul Latif Romly seals Malaysia’s third gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Games.
Born in Kangar, Perlis, this athlete has shocked the nation in the men’s long jump finals (T20) at the Tokyo Olympics Stadium at 6.00 p.m. earlier today.
Having already won a gold medal in Rio 2016, he has set the best record in this paralympics at 7.45 meters(m) on his second attempt.
Latif showed excellent performance at the beginning of the competition when he ranked first with a record of 7.26m, followed by 7.45m (best record) and 7.24m.
Although his fourth attempt was cancelled, he could only manage a 5.56m jump in his fifth attempt due to an injury he sustained that forced him to forgo his sixth and final attempt.
Following Latif’s gold, the silver medal was won by Greece’s athlete, Athanasios Prodromou with his best record of 7.17m, followed by Nicholas Hum from Australia who won the bronze medal with 7.12m.
Kanta Kokubo from Japan cut close with 7.01m.
In addition with his two gold medals from both this paralympics game and Rio 2016, Latif had also set the highest world record with a 7.64m leap in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia.
Before this, Malaysia’s badminton paralympic athlete, Cheah Liek Hou has gifted our country its second gold medal after winning the men’s singles SU5 category, making history as the first gold medalist in this category after badminton made its debut in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Malaysia’s first gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, on the other hand, came courtesy of powerlifter Bonnie Bunyau Gustin in the men’s 72-kilogramme (kg).***