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Youth and sports minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu said they never expected or even took into consideration a disqualification when drawing up the policy of rewarding athletes who achieved success in multi-sports Games.
“It never crossed our minds (about rewards for an athlete) if such an incident occurred. This is an isolated case, a bit like the Covid-19 pandemic which, at first, no country knew what to do (about it).
“So, I wish to propose to the Cabinet the possibility of looking at this matter as it is a bit isolated and has never happened before,” he told a media conference at the handing over of duty ceremony at Menara KBS here today.
On Tuesday, the country was shocked after Ziyad was denied the gold medal in the men’s F20 shot put event in Tokyo. His throw of 17.94m was a new world record for the event, and bettered the national able-bodied shot put record.
He was classified as Did Not Start (DNS) following a protest, as Ziyad was late to enter the call room.
Ukraine’s Maksym Koval was announced as the gold medallist with a throw of 17.34m, breaking Ziyad’s world record of 17.29m that he had set at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.
The disqualification means Ziyad will miss out on a RM1 million reward under the National Sports Incentives Scheme (SHAKAM) for winning a Paralympic gold medal as well as an additional reward of RM100,000 from FWD Takaful.
Local media had previously reported that several parties had urged that the SHAKAM reward be given to Ziyad as a token of appreciation for his sacrifices and achievements in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Faizal said the Cabinet members each had a responsibility to their respective ministries and also for every expenditure incurred.
“The expenditure by the ministries, which is the government, involves the people’s money and we have to be responsible for what we spend,” he said.
Former youth and sports minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican, meanwhile, said he was optimistic that the reward proposal would be welcomed by the Cabinet, which has several former youth and sports ministers in the line-up, among them Annuar Musa, Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin.
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