GLASGOW: Para long jump T20 world record holder Abdul Latif Romly said cold weather prevented him from going for the world record in his athletics event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
On Tuesday, Latif won Malaysia's fifth gold with his third jump distance of 7.17m, which was a far cry from his world record of 7.67m,
It was however, still good enough to secure him the gold medal, ahead of second-placed Canadian Noah Vucsic (6.66 m) and third-placed fellow Malaysian Eljoe Gotuoh (6.51 m).
The two-time Paralympic champion shared that the rain and cold conditions at Scotstoun Stadium were so bad until he started to shiver after making several warm up runs.
"It’s true that I wanted to break the world record, but the weather conditions were unfavourable and it was raining, so it was quite tough to do it.
"When the weather is too cold, it's really hard,” he said.
His gold medal turned out to be an important milestone, as it was the fifth medal of the Games for Malaysia and meant that the contingent had achieved the gold medal target set for the Games.
"I didn’t expect to deliver Malaysia’s fifth gold medal, that’s my luck,” he said of his victory, which was witnessed by his wife and family in the stands.
Malaysia’s four other gold medals came from weightlifters Aniq Kasdan in the men’s 60kg, Aznil Bidin (65 kg), Erry Hidayat (79 kg) and Hafizuddin Roslin (88 kg). - Bernama
