National Men and woman sprinter Zaidatul Husniah Zolkefli (centre) with Khairul Haiqal Hanafi (left) and national men's discus thrower Mohd Irfan Shamsuddin (right) during the sponsorships press conference in Kuala Lumpur. - MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star.
KUALA LUMPUR: National discus throw champion Mohd Irfan Shamsuddin is the second national athlete certified positive with Covid-19.
The national record holder, who is currently undergoing training in Leipzig, Germany said that he underwent a swab test on Tuesday and was confirmed positive after getting the test result the next day.
The Negri Sembilan-born revealed that following the test result, he decided to undergo quarantine at home, but did not state the quarantine period.
“My body did not feel good last Tuesday.
“Because the insurance here covered the coronavirus swab test, I went to do the test, and yesterday the result came out positive, ” he said via a post on his Instagram page @irfan_sham.
National hammer throwing athlete Jackie Wong Siew Cheer was previously confirmed positive for Covid-19, but he has fully recovered after undergoing treatment at Sibu Hospital, Sarawak.
Irfan is the national record holder with a distance of 62.55m at the 2017 Top Meeting Austrian athletics championship.
He also defended the SEA Games gold medal fourth time in a row since the 2013 edition in Myanmar after scoring 57.29m at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk S.M Muthu said that the parent body were ready to provide appropriate assistance to Irfan.
He said Irfan had permission to undergo training in Germany after getting the green light from the Youth and Sports Ministry. —Bernama.
