PARIS: Paris 2024 Paralympic Games silver medallist Datuk Abdul Latif Romly claimed that an abdominal muscle injury on his left side suffered since last Wednesday had affected his momentum to hunt for a hat-trick of T20 men's long jump gold (intellectual disability) gold in the Paris 2024 edition.
Latif Romly had to settle for silver with a jump of 7.45m while Matvei Lakushev's final jump of 7.51m saw the Neutral Paralympic Athlete snatch the gold from him which he had won at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 editions.
According to Latif Romly, he began to detect the injury while undergoing training here which resulted in him having difficulty breathing while making jumps throughout the action at the Stade de France today.
"Losing and winning is customary in competition, anything can happen even in the last jump, I was feeling the stress but satisfied with today's result. A week before the competition I was confident, in training I had done 7.60m and above, but last Wednesday my left stomach muscle was pulled, it really hurt," he said right after the medal presentation ceremony.
The 27-year-old athlete said that the injury suffered somewhat affected his confidence after realizing that Lakushev was capable of giving him fierce opposition in Paris 2024 after his opponent ranked first this year.
Lakushev previously had only a season best record by doing 7.41m at a tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June while Latif Romly was in second place with a distance of 7.30m when he won gold at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, last May.
After successfully completing three early jumps, Latif Romly's performance was slightly affected with the last three attempts being cancelled.
The four-time world champion is however, confident that his fifth jump will go beyond 7.50m and above if it is not cancelled.
In the meantime, the world record holder of 7.64m which was set during the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, is determined to get back up and snatch the gold from Lakushev at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
Though his gold medal was snatched away, Latif Romly still wants to dedicate his silver medal to family members including his beloved wife, Datin Nurul Nabila Farhana Musaidi, who came to Paris, to support him. -- Bernama