Malaysia ends Tokyo Paralympics with five medals

Malaysia wrapped up its Tokyo Paralympics campaign on Saturday with three gold and two silver medals.

The Malaysian powerlifting team led the way with one gold and one silver courtesy of Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (men's 72kg) and Jong Yee Khie (men's 107kg) respectively.

Bonnie, who was one of Malaysian flag bearers in the opening ceremony, also managed to break the Paralympic record with 228kg and almost came close to beat his own world record of 230kg.

Cheah Liek Hou created history when he became the first-ever para badminton shuttler to win a Paralympic gold when he defeated world number one Dheva Anrimusthi in straight games.

Para badminton became an official Paralympic sport for the first time this year in Tokyo.

Boccia player Chew Wei Lun arguably delivered an unexpected silver medal on his Paralympic debut as he was bested by defending champion David Smith in the mixed individual BC1 (celebral palsy) final.

Lastly, Abdul Latif Romly bagged the final medal for Malaysia on Saturday as he successfully defended his gold medal in the men's long jump T20 (intellectual impairment) event.

Despite injuring himself during the final, the 24-year-old's best jump of 7.45m was enough to secure the top spot on the podium ahead of Greece's Athanasios Prodromou (7.17m) and Australia's Nicholas Hum (7.12m).

With the success of winning three gold medals, it met the Paralympic Council of Malaysia's (PCM) target announced by former Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican in July.

The five-medal success also represented Malaysia's best total haul at the Paralympics since the country's first participation in 1972, surpassing the previous record of four set five years ago.

Malaysia came close to surpassing the three-gold medal target through Ridzuan Puzi and Ziyad Zolkefli, both winning gold medals five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ridzuan managed to reach the men's 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) final but he finished fourth, while Ziyad was involved arguably the biggest controversy at the Tokyo Paralympics.

He was initially victorious in the shot put F20 (intellectual impairment) final, breaking the world record in the process.

However, his participation was then reclassified as DNS (Did Not Start) as he was disqualified for arriving late to the call room.

Ukraine's Maksym Koval was crowned the winner instead.