GLASGOW, Scotland: While para long jump T20 world record holder, Datuk Abdul Latif Romly, was denied a chance of breaking his world record during the 2026 Commonwealth Games men’s long jump T20 event tonight, he still managed to win Malaysia’s fifth gold of the Games.
The two-time Paralympic champion shared that the rain and cold conditions at Scotstoun Stadium were so bad till he started to shiver after making several warm up runs.
“It’s true that I wanted to break the world record, but the weather conditions were unfavourable and it was raining, so it was quite tough to do it. If the weather is too cold, it really is hard,” he told Bernama after the competition here.
After openly declaring his intention of smashing his world record of 7.67 metres (m) prior to the competition, Abdul Latif said he was forced to change his approach to focus on winning the gold in the long jump T20, which made its debut in this edition.
His third jump of 7.17 m was a far cry from his world record, but still enough to secure him the gold medal, ahead of second-placed Canadian Noah Vucsic (6.66 m) and third-placed fellow Malaysian Eljoe Gotuoh (6.51 m).
His gold medal would turn out to be an important milestone, as it was the fifth medal of the Games for Malaysia and meant that the contingent had achieved the gold medal target set for the Games.
“I didn’t expect to deliver Malaysia’s fifth gold medal, that’s my luck,” he said of his victory, which was witnessed by his wife and family in the stands.
Malaysia’s four other gold medals came from weightlifters Mohamad Aniq Kasdan in the men’s 60 kilogramme (kg) category, Muhamad Aznil Bidin (65 kg), Muhammad Erry Hidayat (79 kg) and Muhammad Hafizuddin Roslin (88 kg).
Malaysia has set a target of five gold, two silver and four bronze medals for this year’s Commonwealth Games. – BERNAMA
