PARA SUKMA: IKMAL FATHILLAH TURNS TAUNTS TO ACCLAIM AFTER THREE-GOLD FEAT

By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar

KUCHING, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Selangor para-athlete Ikmal Fathillah Abu Arqam was badly traumatised after being ridiculed and called blind and disabled during his schooling days.

But it was those very taunts that spurred him to show his mettle as he ended his 2024 Malaysia Para Games (Para SUKMA) campaign with three gold medals, including in today's men's 200-metres (m) T13 (visual impairment) category.

Despite the downpour at the Sarawak Stadium, the 20-year-old ran the race of his life to cross the finish line in 23.75 seconds (s), with Terengganu's Ainur Haikal Danial Bahrudin (24.97s) taking silver and Sarawak's Flexcyvius Michael Kete Bakar (25.33s) settling for bronze.

Ikmal Fathillah, of Sepang, said he was pleased to end his second Para SUKMA outing in style and hoped that it would open the eyes of those who doubted his abilities and looked down on him previously.

"In primary school, I competed in special education sports events. When my schoolmates found out, they started mocking me.

"I was traumatised and stopped competing from Standard Two until Form Three before a teacher convinced me to go back to competing,” he told Bernama.

From then on, there was no turning back as Ikmal Fathillah put in the hard yards to achieve success at the biennial Games despite not having a proper coach.

The final-year student of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Segamat trained on his own every evening at the campus and with two part-time coaches on weekends ahead of the 2024 Para SUKMA.

Speaking of his performance today, the Diploma of Information Management student said he was relieved to have completed it despite the downpour and leaving his rivals trailing to snatch the gold medal.

"During the race, I had to avoid the rain from getting into my eyes... that made it a little difficult for me to run,” he said.

He said that he started having vision problems when he was eight years old due to an infection in both eyes.

"Normally, I would see only a black spot in front and, if I wanted to see, I would have to tilt my head up,” said Ikmal Fathillah, who also won gold in the men's 100m and 400m T13 events here.

-- BERNAMA