PHNOM PENH – Despite the very recent demise of his mother Kamariah Kasrin on Tuesday, national athlete Muhammad Nazmi Nasri may be broken but has not lost sight of landing gold at the 2023 Asean Para Games (APG) which will officially begin tomorrow until June 11.
Describing his beloved mother as a source of inspiration, he said his participation in Cambodia is to fulfil her wish of seeing him come home with a gold medal from an international championship.
Nazmi said it was the encouragement and prayers of his family that kept him on course for his first appearance at the biennial games to compete in the men’s F35 (cerebral palsy) long jump.
“Actually, my mother has been sick for a long time since I was a child, but it became more chronic in 2019 due to a degeneration in treatment which caused her kidneys to deteriorate, so she had to undergo dialysis in 2021.
“It’s sad because when my mum took her last breath I wasn’t at home, but I steeled myself after getting encouragement from family.
“After all, before my mother departed, she told me to do my best and bring back the gold,” he said with tears streaming down his face.
The Johor-born athlete, who is from Batu Pahat, said he only learnt of his mother’s passing when his sister Nur Nazura phoned on Tuesday night while he was in national camp at the Kg Pandan Paralympic Centre of Excellence for the last phase of training.
The teary-eyed Nazmi said he rushed back to his hometown in Pontian, Johor as soon as the sad news broke and returned to the federal capital on Wednesday evening to answer the call of national duty.
Nazmi, who won the gold medal at the 2022 Malaysia Para Games (Para Sukma) with a record of 5.68m, aims to repeat that success and record a jump of 6m.
“My late mother was supposed to go for dialysis on Tuesday morning but she suddenly got hypotensive which shouldn’t have happened and had shortness of breath...anyhow I’m relieved because she was in pain for a pitifully long time.
“So for the APG, I want to win gold to make my family proud and be able to improve my personal best in Johor,” he said, before his appearance in the sand pit this Sunday.
For this edition in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Paralympic Council of Malaysia has set a national target of 33 gold, 51 silver and 58 bronze medals.
The national contingent is represented by 144 athletes who will participate in 13 of 14 events sports to be contested in Cambodia including e-sports as a demo sport. – Bernama, June 2, 2023
