Muhammad Ziyad powers to gold medal in F20 shot put

KUALA LUMPUR: World champion Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli put up a power packed performance to win the gold medal in men's F20 (learning difficulty) shot put at the 9th Asean Para Games (APG 2017), here today.
Buoyed by a vocal home crowd at National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, the 2016 Rio Paralympian threw a distance of 16.81m to erase his own 15.69m record made at the Myanmar Asean Para Games in 2014.
The F20 shot put gold medal is the fourth in the APG by Muhammad Ziyad since the 2011 Asean Para Games in Indonesia.
His teammate, Mohamad Aliff Mohamad Awi won the silver medal with a throw of 12.79m while Sanepoot Boonkong of Thailand was forced to settle for the bronze medal with a throw of 11.99m.
The 16.81m mark is way off the world record of 17.29m made by Muhammad Ziyad at the IPC World Championship in London in July.
Muhammad Ziyad, who was met by reporters after the event, said he was overwhelmed by the strong home crowd who turned up in full force at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
"I gave the best for my family, the coach (Mohd Faizol Harun) and the crowd. I am satisfied with the 16.81m record as I only expected to make 5-16m since I gave everything at Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017 last month to record 17.12m to win the bronze medal."
Muhammad Ziyad added he will continue intensive training under the supervision of his coach starting November to realise his dream of competing in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. — Bernama