PETALING JAYA – Malaysian sporting history has been made with Mohd Ridzuan Mohd Puzi and Ziyad Zolkefli striking gold in record-breaking fashion at the Rio Paralympics.

Until their feats on Sunday morning, Malaysia has only won a total of five silvers and two bronzes since the country began competing in the Paralympics in 1972 in Munich. Then, in the space of one hour, the NegaraKu was played twice.

Ridzuan, 29, who has cerebral palsy, sprinted home to win the nation’s first gold medal in the T36 100m final before the 26-year-old Ziyad, who has an intellectual disability, struck gold in the F20 shot putt event – with a new world record to boot.

Ridzuan, who won gold at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar last year, was quick off the blocks to win the blue riband event in a new Games record of 12.07.

The previous record of 12.25 was set by Ukraine’s Roman Pavlyk at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

The Ukrainian, a bronze medallist in London four years ago, was disqualified for a false start in the final.

China’s Yang Yifei, the top-ranked sprinter in this category this year, settled for silver in 12.20 while Brazilian Rodrigo Parreira da Silva took bronze in 12.54.

“I’m so happy I’m bringing back the gold medal,” said Ridzuan, who later ran to the stands to hug his coach R. Jeganathan.

Not to be outdone, London Olympics bronze medallist Ziyad then took to the field to break the shot putt world record mark twice on his way to clinching the second gold medal for Malaysia.

Ziyad hurled the putt to a distance of 16.40m with his first effort, surpassing the previous world mark of 16.29m set by Australian Todd Hodgetts in 2007. But he wasn’t done yet as he hurled it to a massive 16.84m on his fifth throw.

Greece’s Dimitrios Senikidis (16.17m) took silver and Hodgetts (15.82m) the bronze.

Abdul Latif Romly delivered the third gold for Malaysia by breaking the world record three times in the men’s T20 long jump final yesterday.

Read also: Malaysian Paralympians to get equal rewards as Olympic athletes

The Malaysian flag bearer, the youngest in the contingent at 19, faulted his first attempt but cleared 7.47m after that to break the previous world mark of 7.37m set by Jose Exposito of Spain in 2003.

Not satisfied, Abdul Latif broke his own short-lived world mark with a 7.54m leap in his third attempt.

The lanky teenager then broke the world record a third time when he soared to 7.60m in his fifth jump – and that proved enough for him to bag the gold.

Croatia’s Zoran Talic settled for the silver with 7.12m while Ukraine’s Dmytro Prudnikov took the bronze with 6.99m.

Rio Paralympic Games 2016 Opening Ceremony

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AFP

Singapore’s para-swimmer Theresa Goh has clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 100m backstroke SB4 final on Sunday (Monday, Singapore time) in Rio de Janeiro, reported local media. 

The 29-year-old clocked 1 min 55.55 sec at the Olympics Aquatic Stadium, finishing behind Norwegian Sarah Louise Rung (1:44.94) and Italian Giulia Ghiretti (1:50.58). 

Goh had set her personal best time of 1:54.50 in the morning’s heats, which is also an Asian record. That made her the second fastest qualifier going into the final. Ghiretti was the final’s fastest qualifier. 

Goh’s win makes this Singapore’s second medal of the Rio Paralympics. Last Saturday, Yip Pin Xiu, 24, bagged Singapore’s first medal with a gold in the 100m backstroke S2 event. 

President Tony Tan congratulated Goh on her win, adding that it has been “a strong effort by Team Singapore at the Rio Paralympics so far. Well done!”

Rio Paralympic Games 2016: Singapore’s Para-athletes

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AFP, Reuters, The Straits Times, MCCY, Singapore Sports Council

In an emotional post on Instagram, fellow para-swimmer Yip Pin Xiu posted a photograph of her sharing a moment of embrace with Goh to celebrate the latter’s win. 

Yip wrote in a post dedicated to Goh: “You are now a Paralympic (medallist) after 17 years of training and perseverance. Nobody knows our journey like us and I am so incredibly proud of you.”

Goh was the first Singapore swimmer to compete at the Paralympics, back in Athens in 2004. This is her first medal in four Paralympic Games. 

In a congratulatory message from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Facebook today, he lauded Goh for her hard work. 

“Well done and thank you for being an inspiration, leading by example and showing us how hard work and perseverance pays off!” he wrote.

Goh has two more events to come – the S5 50m freestyle and the S5 100m freestyle – while Yip will compete in Friday’s S2 50m backstroke event, reported Channel NewsAsia. 

Rio Paralympic Games 2016 Opening Ceremony

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AFP

maryann@sph.com.sg

MANCHESTER – Pep Guardiola takes charge of his first Champions League group game as Manchester City manager on Tuesday when Borussia Moenchengladbach visit the Etihad Stadium in Group C.

Here are five reasons why City could win the Champions League this season.

City finally landed Guardiola after assiduously courting him over four years and the club’s fans have been unable to contain their glee.

He already has his own chant – “‘Cause we’ve got (clap, clap) Guardiola!” to the tune of ‘Glad All Over’ by the Dave Clark Five – and City’s fans sang it long and loud after Saturday’s 2-1 derby win at Manchester United. Guardiola’s chief mission is to bring the Premier League title back to the Etihad, but he is also expected to take City to the next level in Europe.

He won two Champions League titles in four years with Barcelona and will be desperate to make his mark on the competition again after three successive semi-final exits with Bayern Munich.

Guardiola did his best to temper expectations after City’s derby win, but there has been no disguising their impressive form over the first month of his tenure.

They have won their first four Premier League games – beating Sunderland (2-1), Stoke City (4-1), West Ham United (3-1) and Manchester United (2-1) – and crushed Steaua Bucharest 6-0 on aggregate in the Champions League play-off round. Some of their football, particularly in the first half against United, has been sparkling.

The lavish investment made by City’s majority owner Sheikh Mansour has yielded two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup, but it is in Europe that he truly desires to see the team succeed.

Prior to last season, City had never gone beyond the Champions League last 16, but in an unexpected flourish under outgoing manager Manuel Pellegrini, they made it to the semi-finals.

City overcame a dangerous Paris Saint-Germain team in the quarter-finals and narrowly lost 1-0 on aggregate to eventual champions Real Madrid in the last four.

Previously seen as callow continental campaigners, City now know what it takes to win knockout-phase matches against elite opponents.

Guardiola inherited a squad packed with creative talent in the shape of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero, which has been supplemented by the signings of Nolito and Leroy Sane.

Their 17 goals this season have been scored by eight different players, plus one own goal. Aguero already has six and when suspension ruled him out of the derby, De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho stepped up to the plate with a goal apiece.

Nolito has settled quickly following his move from Celta Vigo, while Sterling appears reborn and was named the Premier League’s Player of the Month for August.

The Champions League group-stage draw used to hold all kinds of fears for City, who failed to make it past the first hurdle in their first two seasons in the competition. But they won their group last season, finishing above Juventus, the previous campaign’s beaten finalists, eventual Europa League champions Sevilla and Tuesday’s opponents Gladbach.

This season’s group also features Barcelona – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and the rest – and Scottish champions Celtic. Barcelona will provide a stern test and the matches against Celtic are likely to be stormy affairs, but should City emerge from the group, they will already be on their mettle.

NEW YORK – Stan Wawrinka became the oldest US Open men’s champion in 46 years when he defeated world number one Novak Djokovic to claim a third Grand Slam title on Sunday.

Wawrinka, the 31-year-old third seed, triumphed 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 after almost four hours of high intensity tennis.

He even held his nerve when the final threatened to erupt into controversy after Djokovic twice called medical timeouts in the fourth set.

Wawrinka is the oldest winner of the men’s tournament since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970 and the first over 30 to take the title since Pete Sampras in 2002.

It was the Swiss player’s first New York title, following his breakthrough 2014 Australian Open triumph and 2015 Roland Garros crown.

On both those occasions, Djokovic had been the fall-guy, losing in Melbourne in the quarter-finals and ending as runner-up in Paris.

Djokovic, the 2011 and 2015 champion, had been seeking a third Slam of the year and 13th major of his career.

But the 29-year-old Serb finished runner-up in New York for the fourth time after paying a heavy price for converting just three of 17 break points.

Wawrinka, who had to save a match point to beat unheralded Dan Evans in the third round, committed 51 unforced errors but crucially smashed 46 winners past his opponent.

The final started against a sombre but defiant background with Broadway star Norm Lewis delivering a stirring rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, a poignant performance on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Djokovic, playing in his 21st Grand Slam final and seventh in New York, was quickest out of the blocks.

He broke for 2-0 having won the first point of the game with two extreme, against-the-odds retrievals.

Trailing 2-5, Wawrinka, who had spent the best part of nine hours more than Djokovic getting to the final, saved two set points.

The Serb was made to pay for his wastefulness as the Swiss suddenly found his range, breaking back in the ninth game off a Djokovic double fault.

But Djokovic glided untroubled through the tie-break as Wawrinka’s serve fell apart.

Wawrinka is used to chasing lost causes against Djokovic, coming back from losing the first set to win their 2014 Australian Open quarter-final and again at Roland Garros last year.

Calling on that expertise, he broke for 3-1 in the second set, recovered from handing the advantage back in the seventh to level the final when Djokovic unleashed a wild forehand on set point in the 10th.

Frustrated, Djokovic demolished his racquet, collecting a code violation from umpire Ali Nili.

Wawrinka saved three break points in the opening game of the third set, which featured a 28-shot exchange, broke in the second and saved another break point in the next for a 3-0 lead.

But at the sixth time of asking in the set, Djokovic clawed his way back with a break for 2-3.

Wawrinka, however, kept up the attack and on set point in the 12th game slotted a backhand deep and into the corner which Djokovic could only push wide.

The world number one looked spent. He appeared to start cramping in the fourth set as he quickly slipped 0-3 down.

Much to Wawrinka’s irritation, at 1-3 Djokovic called the trainer and took a medical timeout for treatment for blisters.

Djokovic apologised, claiming he needed attention as he couldn’t stand.

At 2-5, the trainer reappeared but Wawrinka saw the job through leaving Djokovic to finish a Slam runner-up for the ninth time.