JAKARTA: Malaysia swept the podium in the men’s 100m at the Southeast Asian Deaf Games at the Student Sports Training Centre in Ragunan, South Jakarta, on Friday (Aug 22).
Mohd Zamir Azman clinched gold with a time of 11.06s, while twin brothers Hazrul Shah Hamri (11.09s) and Mohd Zumar Azman (11.22s) finished second and third, respectively.
Zamir's time also broke the championship record of 11.12s, set by fellow Malaysian Nur Shahdan Muhamad at the inaugural games in Kuala Lumpur in 2022.
The blue riband event turned out to be a golden tribute to Malaysia's National Day celebration on Aug 31 as national sprinter Nur Andrina Zainuddin clocked 13.06s to beat teammate Steffy Stacy Lakim (13.63s) to the women's 100m crown.
Indonesia's Selly Dwi Juniarti took bronze with a time of 13.88s.
"I immediately performed a prostration of gratitude because I was extremely thankful to win the gold medal. My heartfelt thanks go to my family for all their support and to everyone involved,” said Zamir.
"I started running competitively at the age of 18, but this is my first career gold medal. My parents have always prayed for me, and finally today that moment of victory has arrived.".
The 20-year-old athlete said the three of them, who began training together seven months ago, are now targeting participation in the Deaflympics Tokyo 2025 this November in the same event.
Andrina also dedicated her victory to her parents and the Malaysian Deaf Sports Association, saying they have been her pillar of support.
"Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking whether I would be able to do it, but by this morning all the fear had disappeared. Instead, the desire to win gold grew stronger. Alhamdullilah, everything went smoothly,” she said.
Andrina will now focus on chasing her second personal gold in the 200m event next. - Bernama
