PETALING JAYA: Para swimmer Nur Syaiful Zulkafli (pic) settled for sixth spot in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB4 (physical impairment) final at the Paris Paralympics on Monday.
Nur Syaiful, who won the gold medal in the event at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games last year, clocked 1:46.71s at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Dmitrii Cherniaev, who is under the Neutral Paralympic Athletes colours, took gold with a time of 1:32.20s, leaving his closest competitor from Greece Antonios Tsapatakis (1:36.16s) with the silver.
Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo from Italy settled for bronze (1:42.52s).
In the morning heats, Nur Syaiful recorded a time of 1:45.15s, his personal best, surpassing his record of 1:46.78s from the Asian Para Games.
The result placed him third in the first heat and ranked fifth among the top eight swimmers who advanced to the final.
This was the second final appearance for the Sarawakian in Paris after finishing sixth in the men’s 100m freestyle S5 (physical impairment) event with a time of 1:16.60s.
The 29-year-old swimmer will return to the pool for the men’s 50m freestyle S5 event tomorrow.
In para archery, G. Daneshen and Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil’s campaign came to an end after they were eliminated in the 1/8 elimination round of the mixed team open compound event by Italian duo Matteo Bonacina and Eleonora Sarti.
Daneshen and Nur Jannaton lost 141-147 to Bonacina and Sarti.
Both archers had been knocked out in the 1/16 round of the individual competition earlier.
Daneshen narrowly lost 142-144 to He Zihao of China, the gold medallist from Tokyo 2020, while Nur Jannaton was defeated 124-138 by Sarita Kumari of India.
