PHNOM PENH, June 6 (Bernama) — National para-athlete Muhamad Ashraf Muhammad Haisham’s dream of returning home from the 12th ASEAN Para Games (APG) with a hat-trick of gold medals was dashed today after only managing second place in the men’s 800 metres (T46-Physical Disability) event.
It could have been all different for the 28-year-old athlete as the race was a tightly contested affair in which Muhamad Ashraf, who clocked 2 minutes 13.25 seconds (s) lost to King James of the Philippines by a mere 00.03 seconds.
Tran Van of Vietnam took the bronze with a time of 2:13.26s.
“The events here are held back-to-back and I managed two gold medals before this. Today, I was not physically ready but still tried my best.
“I stuck close to the coach’s instructions by keeping pace with my rivals but ran out of steam in the last 200m. I ended up diving and injuring myself at the finish line,” Muhamad Ashraf, who failed to defend the gold he won in the Solo, Indonesia edition last year, said.
Muhamad Ashraf, who is making is fourth appearance at the biennial games after Singapore (2015), Kuala Lumpur (2017) and Solo said the tight schedule here affected his performance to a certain extent in his bid to clinch three gold medals for the first time in the APG.
He had secured the first two through the 5,000m T46 on Sunday and 1,500m T46 yesterday.
The loss today, however, has not dampened his spirit to once again go for the gold hat-rick in the next APG in Thailand in 2025.
“This was my first defeat in the 800m since 2015 but I will learn from it,” he said.
— BERNAMA
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