KUALA LUMPUR – National para long jump athlete, Zulkifly Abdullah, is targeting to enter the finals of the Asian Para Games 2022 in Hangzhou, China, from October 22 to 28, and improve on his fourth placing in the 2018 games, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 2022 games were postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zulkifly, 27, who will compete in the Long Jump T20 (intellectual impairment) event, said that the experience of competing in the last games has helped him mature as an athlete to perform longer jumps.
He said that in the previous Asian Para Games, he ended the competition in fourth position, separated by only 0.1cm from the bronze medalist.
“This time, I want to make up for it and aim for a further jump, at least to bring home a medal,” he said, when met at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here today.
Commenting on his thyroid cancer, he said that he is still in the recovery stage, but does not want it to be an obstacle to achieving a better result in this edition of the games.
“I don’t think of the illness, and only think positively, as otherwise it will affect my preparations (for the games),” he added. – September 8, 2023