Tears of joy for my father - Anas

"Precious tears for my father," said Anas Zul Amirul Sid, the S14 (learning disability) 100m men's freestyle swimming gold medal winner after emerging from the pool at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, here today.

Anas, 17, shed tears of joy as soon as he reached the finishing line after demonstrating an extraordinary feat, recording 59.79 seconds to contribute the first gold medal from the swimming squad competing in the 9th ASEAN Para Games.

Anas left defending champion Benson Tan from Singapore trailing behind for the silver medal (1:01.38s) while another Malaysian Zadrian Chan took the bronze with a time of 1:01.70s.

The victory was all the more sweet and memorable since the Paroi, Negeri Sembilan-born swimmer who was making his debut in the APG managed to erase Benson Tan's record of 1:02.88s that was set in Myanmar in 2014.

"I cried because I did not expect to win the gold medal today. In fact, my success was witnessed by my father, Zul Amirul Sidi, who was at the centre today," he told reporters.

He said the success somewhat eased his disappointment after failing to win any medal at the S14 200m event yesterday and hoped to contribute another gold medal from the mixed men's 4X100m event tomorrow.

Asked how he was involved in swimming, the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Setiawangsa student said he was encouraged by his father who was also a national paralympic swimmer. - BERNAMA