It was a joyous day on the track and field for Team Singapore at the Manahan International Stadium in the 2022 ASEAN Para Games.
Muhammad Diroy Noordin may be small in stature but he can pack a punch. He received confirmation for the gold in men’s shot put F40/41 final when he threw his shot 9.91m across the field to best his four other competitors.
The gold is the second medal in Muhammad’s campaign, having won bronze for the F40/41 men javelin finals the day before when his throw of 26.18m landed far enough.
“The bronze medal was unexpected for the javelin because my main event is shot put. We didn’t train with the javelin at all. It was more stressful because I had not thrown the javelin for a long time in a competition,” said Muhammad Diroy.
Maisarah Md Hassan received her confirmation and was declared the bronze medalist for the women’s 200m T36/37 final. She set a new national record and personal best as she sped past the finishing line, clocking 37.23s.
In other track and field events, Suhairi Suhani was verified in the long jump F20 final landing 5.78m in the sand pit to rank 4th out of 5. James Ethan Ang also received his confirmation of 23.97s for the men’s 200m T13 final where he came in 5th.
Also on the track in the sunny Solo, Muhammad Nur Ariq Yaakub clocked 53.00s for the men’s 400m T20 heats. He crossed the finishing line 5th out of 13 runners. His timing was a new national record and personal best, qualifying him for the finals.
Over at the tennis table, Singapore’s para paddlers endured a mixed campaign. The mixed pairs of Eric Ting and Christina Lau, and Muhammad Dinie and Claire Toh, bowed out of the mixed doubles after losing to stern competitors from the host nation.
But Claire Toh beat Christina Lau 3-1 in an all-Singaporean affair in the women’s singles match. Toh and Lau then paired up in the women’s doubles but lost 3-0 to the duo from Thailand. They did not advance to the next round.
Over at the men’s doubles, the parings of Eric Ting and Muhammad Dinie, and Caleb Lee and Fong Wei Cheng, did not advance through to the next rounds.
Both Ting and Tan Kok Leong also lost their respective final round-robin matches in the men’s singles, thus exiting the competition.
Over at the chess board, Edwin Tan started the rapid chess campaign brightly, beating Vietnam’s Dinh Tuan Son. But he succumbed to defeats from Francis Ching and Sarmiento Rodolfo of the Philippines in the second and third rounds. Tan will continue rounds four through six tomorrow.
Catch the sporting action live here at TheHomeGroud Asia, and cheer Team Singapore’s para athletes on as they strive for gold in Solo Indonesia for the 2022 ASEAN Para Games.
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