Just last week, the retraction of Paralympian, Ziyad Zolkefli’s gold medal stirred up controversy all over social media.
His disqualification from the men’s shot put (F20) final took place following a protest by other athletes saying he was late to the call room prior to the event, which immediately led him to be categorized as Did Not Start (DNS).
Recently, our beloved athlete explained via his Instagram post that everything was simply a misunderstanding and he was indeed never late, AT ALL. He was confused as to why would people ask his coach to admit the lateness when Ziyad himself had admitted to it.
“Some say I was late because I was busy on the phone with my family. I wasn’t late, and apparently it’s all a misunderstanding,” he added.
According to his post, the jury said that Ziyad was 2 minutes late. He then called his wife and told her about the jury’s claims.
“I think this is the misunderstanding, as if I admitted I was late because I was on the phone with my family.”
He insisted that he’s convinced that his coach and he reported to the call room on time.
“We were there at 5.55PM sharp, as scheduled,” he affirmed.
According to Bernama, the protest and appeal to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and World Para Athletes (WPA) will go on, with the CCTV footage in the call room as evidence. Megat D Shahriman, the Paralympic Council of Malaysia president has also said that they will refer to a lawyer prior to taking any further action should their protest be rejected once again.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments below!
Also read: IPC Slams Netizens For “Very Abusive And Ridiculous” Behavior Over Ziyad Zolkefli’s Disqualification
