Muhammad Diroy Noordin was peerless in the ASEAN Para Games (APG) shot put F40 final – his throw of 8.36m dwarfing the field with Rocky Logrono of the Philippines his closest competitor at 7.40m.
Vietnam’s Tran Van Nguyen took bronze with a 7.17m throw.
After winning in 2022 and 2023, Diroy’s opening throw was sufficient to bag his fourth APG medal in the event and complete his threepeat after his 2022 and 2023 triumphs.
Roared on by a wave of purple Team Nila supporters on Thursday (Jan 22) evening, the 33-year-old cartwheeled on the field to celebrate a successful title defence but admitted his performance was far from perfect.
“I used to throw further than that, and I kept trying, but it didn’t go well. I am still grateful to hold onto gold. I will go back and continue to work with my team and my coach,” the national record holder (10.02m) said.
With September’s Asian Games on the horizon, Diroy admitted that he felt he was “still not ready”.
“I need to look back at today’s performance, which wasn’t so good. I need to work hard and prepare for the next competition.”
“I still want to go further. I want to hit further than my personal best.”
With APG gold secured, Diroy said his focus would now turn to the Asian Games, where he hopes to win a medal. He will return to the field on Friday for the javelin throw F40.
In the days other athletics action, Lionel Toh was fifth in the men’s 100m T37, crossing the line in 13.16sec while Siti Nurhayati Ali Aksar Khan also finished fifth in the women’s 400m T20 (1:11.02).
James Ang, who set a national record and personal best of 11.76s in the men’s 100m T12 heats a day earlier, came fourth in the final after clocking 11.99s.
