BIRMINGHAM: “I apologise to Malaysians, my parents, the coach and the management for disappointing them,“ said national weightlifter Muhammad Hafiz Shamsuddin after finishing the men’s 109 kilogramme (kg) event here today.
The 23-year-old national athlete, who is making his debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, finished Birmingham edition in 10th place out of 11 competitors while failing to record any attempt in the clean & jerk category.
Following this, his participation in the clean & jerk category was canceled for not complying with the rules of the competition when carrying out the lifting, and in the snatch category, he could only lift 148kg.
Cameroonian Junior Periclex Ngadja Nyabeyeu won gold after lifting a total of 361kg, while Samoan Jack Hitila Opeloge (358kg) and Lovepreet Singh (355kg) from India took silver and bronze respectively.
Muhammad Hafiz said he was disappointed with his performance as he really wanted to make an impact in his maiden participation at the Commonwealth Games.
He said two weeks before arriving here, he had a severe high fever while training in Lampung, Indonesia, just like his teammate Muhammad Erry Hidayat.
“I don’t want to give excuses, I’m really disappointed with the performance here. But before coming here, I had a bad fever, so I wasn’t fully fit. Of course I’m disappointed, but I’ve done my best...it’s just not my luck,“ he said.
Muhammad Hafiz, who won bronze in the 89kg category at the SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, is determined to perform better if he has the opportunity to participate in the next Commonwealth Games.
The Ipoh-born weightlifter said he could usually do the snatch at 152kg and 190kg for clean & jerk, just like he did during the Hanoi SEA Games.
“After this, I want to increase my training...I will not give up. I want to perform much better at the next Commonwealth Games,” he said.
Muhammad Hafiz said after the Games in Birmingham, he will focus on preparing to represent Perak at the 2022 Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Kuala Lumpur which is scheduled to take place in September. - Bernama