Erry took 12 years but kept his word to his father

Maximum effort: Erry Hidayat in action during the 79kg event at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Armadillo. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Erry Hidayat proved that years of hard work had paid off after fulfilling his childhood dream of following in the footsteps of his father Hidayat Hamidon by winning Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow.

It took Erry 12 years and three Commonwealth Games appearances before he finally struck gold, claiming the men’s 79kg title with a total lift of 331kg.

It was a long journey for Erry, whose first appearance at the 2018 Gold Coast Games ended in disappointment after he finished fifth in the men’s 69kg event.

Four years later in Birmingham, he moved up to the 79kg category but had to settle for silver.

For Erry, the long-awaited gold medal meant far more than just another title.

It fulfilled a childhood dream of emulating his father, who won gold at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

“I’m very happy and this has always been one of my dreams, to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games,” said Erry in a video shared by the National Sports Council.

“Ever since I took up weightlifting as a child, I wanted to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games. Back then, I never dreamed of winning Olympic gold or anything like that. All I wanted was to win the gold because I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps.

“After three attempts over 12 years, I finally managed to win a gold medal for Malaysia.

“To my father, I’ve finally fulfilled my promise to win the Games gold medal that you won back in 1998. I’m sorry it took me three Games to achieve it, but I gave it everything I had.

“I’ll continue to work even harder for the competitions ahead, especially the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games next year,” he added.

However, victory did not come easily in the final at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Armadillo in Glasgow.

Erry came close to crashing out after his opening two snatch attempts at 147kg were ruled unsuccessful, but he held his nerve to complete the lift on his third and final attempt.

“I was really nervous in the snatch because my first attempt went backwards, while my second attempt was ruled unsuccessful by the judges, perhaps because my arms were a little unsteady.

“If I had failed my third attempt, I would have been disqualified from the competition.

“But the crowd’s cheers gave me an extra boost. I reminded myself of the technique I used when I lifted 147kg in training, replayed it in my mind, and thankfully I managed to pull it off,” said Erry.

That proved to be the turning point as he went on to lift a Games record 184kg in the clean and jerk to seal the gold medal.

India’s Valluri Babu took silver with a total of 330kg, just 1kg behind Erry, while England’s Chris Murray claimed bronze with 325kg.

“My coach came over and tapped me on the face to snap me out of it. He reminded me that this was my chance to win the gold medal.

“’This is your dream. Are you really going to wait another four years? That’s a long time!’

“So I went for the 184kg lift to beat the Indian lifter,” he added.