Muhd Erry continuing dad’s legacy in weighlifting

The Malaysian weightlifters who won medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa, from left: Ronny Jesos (56kg bronze), Nor Atikah Mohd Sobri (58kg gold),Mohd Nor Osman (coach), Jabriella Teo Samuel (above 69kg gold), Muhd Erry Hidayat (69kg gold).

PETALING JAYA: Like father, like son.

In 1998, Hidayat Hamidon made the nation proud by bagging gold in the men’s below 69kg weightlifting competition when Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Games. Hidayat, who had won a SEA Games gold medal a year earlier in Jakarta, even set a new Games record.

Now, 17 years later, his son Muhd Erry Hidayat has continued his legacy. The youngster captured gold for Malaysia at the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Samoa last week – and in the same weight category.

Hidayat hopes that Erry, who turned 16 last Saturday, can follow in his footsteps by going for gold at the next Commonwealth Games in Queensland in 2018.

Hidayat, now 40, said he did not force his son to go into weightlifting.

“I left it to him to decide what he likes to do in his free time,” said Hidayat.

“Erry is showing signs of a promising future in weightlifting. This is the second time he has won a medal for Malaysia this year, having also bagged gold at the national junior circuit in Kuala Lumpur.

“Erry was the reason I made a comeback in 2002 for the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

“He had seen clips of me winning the 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medal on television and asked me ‘dad, you are no more lifting?’

“That’s when I decided to return to the spot. I managed to get into the team and came back with a bronze medal from Manchester.

“My hope is for him to be selected for the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and the next Commonwealth Games.

“It might be hard for him to win a medal at the SEA Games as there’ll be experienced lifters there, but I think he has a chance at the Commonwealth Games because he’ll have more time to prepare,” added Hidayat, who was born in Medan, Indonesia, and now coaches the national paralympic weightlifting team.

Erry, who trains at the Putrajaya Weightlifting Club, is hoping to use the CYG as a launching pad to greater things.

“This is just the start of better things. I guess the interest in weightlifting came naturally because I used to follow my dad for training when I was a child.

“He made the country proud and that’s something I want to do also,” said Erry, who returned home with the Malaysian contingent on Sunday.

Weightlifting contributed three of the 11 gold medals won by Malaysia at the CYG.