Ridzuan Puzi was named the very best Asian para athlete of 2018 on Wednesday (February 6), in response to the New Straits Times.
Ridzuan received the award from the chairman of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Paralympic Council, Mohamed Alhameli, and the chairman of the Asian Paralympic Committee, Majid Rashed, in Dubai.
“I am honored to receive this award and would like to thank the Asian Paralympic Committee for recognizing my efforts. This only motivates me to continue to strive to improve,” Ridzuan said.
The 31-year-old from Perlis is the primary Malaysian para-athlete to win the award last yr for his exploits in sprinting and long jump.
At last yr’s Asian Paralympic Games, he created history by breaking the world record in the lads’s 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) and the competition record within the long jump, winning a complete of three gold medals.
He set a private better of 11.87 within the 100 m, beating the previous world record of 11.90 set by Russian Yevgeny Shvetsov on the 2013 World Championships in Lyon.
Ridzuan also broke the Asian Games long jump record with a private better of 5.49m, beating Yang Yi Fei’s previous record of 5.45m from 2016.
He also won gold within the 400 m.
