Para athletes the saving grace of M’sian sports in 2021

KUALA LUMPUR − There is no denying that the sensational performance of our para athletes in clinching three gold and two silver medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics helped add gloss to a quite lacklustre year in Malaysian sports this year.

Had it not been for them, the year 2021, which is actually the recovery phase for the sports industry following the Covid-19 pandemic that hit countries worldwide since 2020, would be remembered for what can best be described as “moderately successful” for Malaysian sports.

After being postponed by a year due to the pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics − held from July 23-August 8 − became the focus of Malaysian sports fans. Unfortunately, the national contingent’s mission to bring back the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal fell flat when they could only return home with a silver and a bronze, thus extending the country’s wait for the glitter of gold until the 2024 Paris edition.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the athlete who shone brightest was national track cycling ace Datuk Azizulhasni Awang, who pedalled his way to a silver in the men’s keirin event following a slight tactical misjudgement in the final.

National men’s doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik created a shock when they sent two top Indonesian pairs packing − Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the quarterfinals and Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the bronze medal playoff.

National diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri, on the other hand, deserves special mention. Although she did not win a medal, she surely won the hearts of all Malaysians with her captivating smile and consistent dives in the women’s 3m springboard individual final to finish fourth.

However, overall, the national divers, who contributed medals in the previous two Olympic editions, failed to live up to the hype this time.

Cheong Jun Hoong − the 2017 world champion and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist (with Pandelela Rinong in the women’s 10m platform synchronised) – who had been struggling with injuries the past few years, could only finish 26th out of 30 divers and, thus, fail to make the semi-finals of the women’s 10m platform individual.

National diving queen Datuk Pandelela Rinong, who bagged a bronze in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2016, also disappointed in Tokyo after ending up 12th in the women’s 10m platform individual. In the women’s 10m platform synchronised final, Pandelela and veteran Leong Mun Yee finished last − in eighth place.

Disappointment, however, turned to delight when the national Paralympic contingent arrived at the Land of the Rising Sun to begin their medal quest. 

And deliver they did! So excellent were the national Paralympians that they recorded their best-ever achievement at the Paralympics since the 1972 Heidelberg edition by bagging three golds and two silvers to trump their three golds and one bronze feat in Rio 2016.

National powerlifter Bonnie Bunyau Gustin captured Malaysia’s first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the men’s 72kg category.

Men’s singles shuttler Cheah Liek Hou then bagged Malaysia’s second gold in the SU5 (physical impairment) category to become the first-ever Paralympics badminton champion as the racquet sport made its debut at the Tokyo Games.

Malaysia’s third gold medal was delivered by Abdul Latif Romly in the men’s T20 (intellectual disability) long jump event. He had also struck gold in the same event at the 2016 Rio Games.

The country’s two silver medals came courtesy of Jong Yee Khie in the men’s powerlifting 107kg category and Paralympic Games debutant Chew Wei Lun in the boccia BC1 (physical impairment) individual event.

It wasn’t all good news at the Paralympics though as Rio 2016 gold medallist Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli missed out on the gold medal in the men’s F20 (intellectual disability) shot put despite having thrown a world record 17.94m.

The reason being he was classified as Did Not Start (DNS) following a protest lodged by Ukraine, who claimed that he (Ziyad) was late to enter the call room.

If 2021 is Ziyad’s nightmare year, then it is certainly Bonnie’s dream year.

Bonnie, who is from Sarawak, won the World Para Powerlifting Championship 2021 in Tbilisi, Georgia earlier this month, apart from breaking the world record en route to winning the Para Powerlifting World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June.

Liek Hou was just as successful, bagging two titles − Fazza-Dubai Para Badminton International Championships in the UAE in April and the Spanish Para International Championships in May − before going on to make history in Japan. 

The excellence of the senior para athletes in Japan clearly proved to be an inspiration to their younger compatriots, who went on to bag three gold, five silver and five bronze medals in the Asian Youth Para Games 2021 in Bahrain earlier this month.

Another praiseworthy achievement of 2021 is that of national singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia, who emerged All England champion in March by overcoming the likes of then world number one Kento Momota of Japan in the quarterfinals and Tokyo Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the final.

The 23-year-old Zii Jia then played a leading role − with assistance from Aaron-Wooi Yik and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See (mixed doubles) − in helping Malaysia stun Indonesia 3-2 in the quarterfinals en route to clinching the bronze medal in the Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland and guiding the men’s team to the quarterfinals of the Thomas Cup in Aarhus, Denmark.

Malaysian badminton fans, however, were stunned when 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying decided to end their 13-year partnership with Peng Soon returning to the Badminton Association of Malaysia fold to form a new partnership with Valeree Siow.

The future also looks bright for two of the most popular sports in Malaysia − football and hockey. The national Under-22 football squad managed to qualify for the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup Finals after emerging champions in the qualifiers in Mongolia in October while the young hockey team finished eighth at the recent Men’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup in India.

It was not all joy and delight, though, as the sport of weightlifting continued to be mired in a doping crisis when three lifters, including a woman, tested positive for the use of banned substances this year, forcing the national weightlifting squad to be disbanded effective November 1.

There was also a pall of gloom over the national sports arena when two sporting figures died this year.

Olympic archer Haziq Kamaruddin, 27, died of complications due to coronary artery atherosclerosis on the second day of Aidilfitri while former National Sports Council director-general Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong died in October.

May 2022 brings a new ray of hope and excellence to sports in Malaysia, especially as the national contingent will be competing in three multi-sports Games − SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam (May 12-23); Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (July 28-August 8); and Asian Games in Hangzhou, China (September 10-25). – Bernama, December 21, 2021