Country proud of Mohamad Ridzuan, Ziyad's achievement - PM Najib

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today congratulated two national Paralympic athletes, Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi and Muhamad Ziyad Zolkefli for delivering gold medals at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Prime Minister said the excellent successes attained in Brazil by the two special athletes albeit creating a world record and a Paralympic record made the nation extremely proud.

"Its a historic day for Malaysia. Negaraku was played for the first time at #Rio 2016. We brought back not one but two gold medals! #Paralympics.

"Congratulations to Ridzuan Puzi and @yardzolkefli for setting world records. The entire nation is proud of you! #Paralympics #KamiLuarBiasa," he said in his Twitter account today.

The historic achievement of the two athletes also captured the attention of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who also offering his compliments for contributing gold medals to the country.

"Congratulations Ridzuan Puzi & Ziyad! Contributing gold medals for Malaysia at Paralympic Games #Rio2016. We are proud of you," he said in his Twitter posting.

The first gold medal of the country was won by sprinter Mohamad Ridzuan in the men's 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) event.

In the race at the Olympic Stadium, Mohamad Ridzuan clocked 12.07 seconds, erasing the earlier record of 12.25 seconds set by Roman Pavlyk of Ukraine at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Mohamad Ridzuan's victory was followed by Muhammad Ziyad in the men's shot put F20 (intellectual disability).

The London Paralympic bronze medalist also set a new world record with his first throw of 16.40m, which rewrote the previous record of 16.29m by Todd Hodgetts of Australia also set in London.

The 26-year-old athlete continued his outstanding performance to improve the world record to achieve a distance of 16.84m in his fifth throw.