Now not the time to start pointing fingers - CDM

TOKYO: Now is not the time to start pointing fingers following the controversial disqualification of national shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli at the Tokyo Paralympics, said chef de mission (CDM) Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin.

He said the Malaysian contingent took joint responsibility and shared equal burden of Muhammad Ziyad's disqualification in the men's shot put F20 (intellectual impairment) category, which resulted in him missing out on the gold medal, at the Olympic Stadium here on Aug 31.

"Insya-Allah, we will not condemn any party. We, as a team, will take joint responsibility besides adopting the attitude of being one team (that) win as one, work hard as one," he told Bernama.

Megat D Shahriman, who is also the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) president, assured that the ongoing investigation into the incident would be done with transparency to find the root cause of the problem.

On Aug 31, the world sports arena was rocked by a shocking incident in Tokyo after Muhammad Ziyad was denied the gold medal in the men's F20 shot put event. His throw of a distance of 17.94 metres (m) was also a new world record for the event.

He was classified as Did Not Start (DNS) following a protest lodged by Ukraine, who claimed that Muhammad Ziyad was late to enter the call room.

Ukraine's Maksym Koval was announced as the gold medallist with a throw of 17.34m, breaking Muhammad Ziyad's world record of 17.29m that he had set at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.

On Wednesday, the World Para Athletics (WPA) rejected Malaysia's appeal, but the Organising Committee stated that all protests and follow-up appeals could be made by writing to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and WPA once the Games are over.

The disqualification of Muhammad Ziyad's gold medal was based on World Para Athletics Rule 5.5 - 'Failure to Report to the Call Room' - which states that in case athletes are not present in the call room at the relevant time as published in the Call Room schedule, they will be shown in the results as DNS (Did Not Start).

Meanwhile, Megat D Shahriman also hoped that all decisions related to their appeal to the IPC and WPA would be made professionally.

-- BERNAMA