"Keluarga Malaysia" Praying That Ziyad Zolkefli wins appeal to retain gold medal he won in the men’s shot put at the Paralympics before being disqualified

 

#JusticeforZiyad

Pray for Ziyad to win appeal against disqualification - PM Ismail Sabri

01/09/2021 12:53 AM

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has asked all Malaysians to pray that national athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli wins his appeal to retain the gold medal he had initially won in the men’s shot put F20 (intellectual impairment) category at the Tokyo Paralympics earlier tonight before being disqualified. 

In a Facebook posting, Ismail Sabri said along with the Malaysian Family, he was proud of Muhammad Ziyad’s outstanding performance.

“To Ziyad, you remain the champion in our hearts, breaking the world record is an extraordinary thing! The Malaysian family and I are very proud of you! Let us all pray that the gold medal victory remains in the hands of Malaysia #malaysiaboleh #letlogicprevail," he said.

Despite breaking his own world record twice in the event held at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium and leaving his rivals trailing, Muhammad Ziyad was cruelly robbed of the gold medal when a protest by the Ukrainian camp was lodged against him.

Earlier, Muhammad Ziyad thought he had managed to defend his gold medal from the 2016 Rio Paralympics when he hurled the shot put to a distance of 17.31m with his very first attempt to break his previous world mark of 17.29m set at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.

Then, in his third attempt, he threw it even further to 17.94m to leave his rivals trailing in his wake.