Malaysia will have to accept that Ziyad Zolkefli cannot get back his Paralympic gold, following an in-depth investigation.
An investigation committee, appointed by the Sports Ministry, concluded that Ziyad and his coach Faizol Harun were unable to prove that they had indeed reached the call room in Tokyo on time.
The committee came to this conclusion after conducting numerous interviews with those involved and seeing various documents.
Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said Malaysia is forced to accept the World Para Athletics' (WPA) decision but will still raise a few concerns to the world body.
"Although we are forced to accept the decision made by WPA in the Ziyad case, the Malaysian Para Athletics Association and the National Sports Council will still give Malaysia's views (to WPA) about the confusion regarding the 'did not start' (DNS) rule applied to para track and field athletes," said Faizal yesterday.
"As we are aware, the technical official stressed that Ziyad and two other athletes from Australia and Ecuador had exceeded the time limit for reporting (at call room) but were still allowed to compete."
Ziyad was deemed to have been late in reporting to the call room prior to the men's shot put F20 at the Paralympics on Aug 31 but was allowed to compete under appeal.
He went on to finish first and achieved a new world record but it did not count. His appeal was rejected and he was classified as DNS.
Coach Faizol, however, claimed that he and Ziyad had reached just in time but were not allowed into the call room.