TOKYO, Aug 28 — The following are news in brief regarding Malaysian athletes at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in Japan today:
Track cycling
The national men’s team put on a good performance in the mixed C1-5 (physical impairment) 750m team sprint event today to improve on their personal best time at the Izu Velodrome here.
The trio of Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi, Muhammad Hafiz Jamali and Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shahruddin clocked 50.532 seconds (s) to erase their previous mark of 51.827s set at Milton, Canada last year.
They missed out on a place in the final by just one spot after finishing fifth in the race.
The national team will compete in the road race from Aug 31-Sept 3 at the Fuji International Speedway.
Archery
Strong wind conditions at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field foiled national archer Wiro Julin’s chances of advancing further as he fell in the 1/16 elimination round today.
Wiro, who is making his Paralympic debut, lost 126-136 to Russian Olympic Council’s Bair Shigaev.
“This is not my last fight, so I will try to improve on all my weaknesses and do my best in all the championships, be it big or small, after this,” he said.
Wheelchair tennis
National wheelchair tennis player Abu Samah Borhan’s hopes of springing a surprise on eighth seed Tom Egberink of the Netherlands were dashed after he lost in the second round.
Abu Samah was comprehensively beaten 0-6, 1-6 by Egberink in just 46 minutes at the Ariake Tennis Park.
The 36-year-old admitted to losing to a better player, adding that he would try to improve his game and do better at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
This is Egberink’s third straight win over Abu Samah, following the first in 2014 and the second in 2015 at the Busan Open in South Korea.
Egberink is set to meet the winner of the match between Japan’s Daisuke Arai and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson in the third round.
Boccia
Malaysia’s sole representative, Chew Wei Lun got his Group B qualifying campaign off to a winning start when he beat Brazilian Andreza Vitoria de Oliveira 5-2 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre today.
Wei Lun, who is competing in the mixed individual BC1 (physical impairment) category, is down to play two matches tomorrow (August 29), against Thai Witsanu Huadpradit and South Korean Sungjoon Jung.
— Bernama
