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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — From children to the elderly, Malaysians are united in the spirit of running together in the Run for National Unity 2018. Regardless of creed, ability or walk of life, Malaysians expressed a sense of accomplishment by participating in the tracks together. Here are some testaments:
A Paralympic himself, 34-year old Ahmad is never one shy of accomplishments in life. A football enthusiast from young, Ahmad’s life turned upside down when he got his arm amputated due to an accident with a sugar cane machine. Determined to pursue his career in sports, Ahmad eventually persevered in life and is inspiring fellow Paralympians with his story. A winner in life, the runner has earned himself the Tokoh Anugerah Sukan Kelantan 2015 award.
“I am proud of where I am now,” he said, now a father of one young daughter. “It’s been a while since I have not participated in a run like this, thus I felt that my spirits aren’t as strong as I used to be,” he said, adding that he now has hopes his daughter could follow his footsteps in being an athlete in her own way.
Adriana hopes to be a Malaysia-representing runner.
Not being her first rodeo, the run marks her return from last year’s run. An aspiring athlete, Adriana hopes to be a Malaysia-representing runner. With parents by her side, Adriana feels that she can do anything her heart desires. “I had run in over nine to 10 events this year,” she said, adding that she has earned medals in school for running and high jumps in this year alone. When asked if there are any challenges she faced in pursuing her dreams, she gingerly replied: “I don’t have any challenges in running; the challenge is just myself”.
As RHB Insurance is one of the official sponsors of Run for National Unity, Kong is pleased with this year’s outcome.
Starting from last year’s Unity Run, Kong has been actively supporting the cause by being a participant himself. Growing up loving active sports, the 58-year old runs regularly and keeps himself active. “I do run for health reasons to keep myself active. By now I have less spare time to play sports and thus I kept myself to running instead,” he said, cutting no shortcuts to a balanced lifestyle. As RHB Insurance is one of the official sponsors of Run for National Unity, Kong is pleased with this year’s outcome. “To me, it’s for the public to run in unity. It brings all together for one common purpose,” he added.
Despite his disability and fragility of bones, Daniel persevered in being sports-active as a purpose in life.
A determined man on a mission to succeed on two wheels, Daniel has seen the fruits of his labour when he fetched a medal for third place in the OKU (disabled) category in this year’s run. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones disease), Daniel’s life was fragile from the bones he was born with. “It was inheritance. My dad and grandad had it too,” he explained himself. Describing his school life, Daniel balanced an optimistic, active lifestyle while being the subject of bullying and discrimination. Despite his disability and fragility of bones, Daniel persevered in being sports-active as a purpose in life. “I was quite active as a kid, but due to that, I fell down a lot. I have always tested myself through athletics,” he added.
Running for the third consecutive unity run, Daniel described his experience as challenging with more hills to go through. Even though Daniel has earned himself a medal for his endeavours, Daniel feels disappointed with this year’s run. “Technically, I won first place as I am the first wheelchair-bound athlete from my category who made it to the finish line. It was an oversight on the organiser’s part in the OKU category,” he said, insisting that wheelchair-bound disabled athletes should be a distinguished category and must not be mixed with other disabled people with fully-functional legs. Daniel said that despite previous years of pleading for this request, he didn’t get the OKU category distinguished. “Hence why not many disabled people participated — we feel it’s unfair and insensitive to compete against other disabled people not bound by wheelchairs,” he added.
With optimism at heart, Daniel aims to represent Malaysia as a Paralympian in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020, in spite of a lack of support from the National Sports Council Malaysia (MSN).
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