Dr Pola Singh
AT the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the intellectually-impaired Ziyad Zolkefli broke the world record in the final of the F20 shot put with a record throw of 17.94 metres and would have contributed to Malaysia’s second gold medal. But that was not to be. Ziyad was stripped of his medal for arriving three minutes late. If Ziyad was not disqualified, he would have been handsomely rewarded financially, including a life-long pension. Indeed, Ziyad now has to pay a heavy price not due to his own doing but because of the not-so-apt officials who accompanied him. Such an incident will less likely happen to normal athletes as they themselves will keep reminding the officials to be on time. Not being on time is habitual for some but this time the price to be paid is way high!