Wheelchair Athlete Apologizes And Clarifies His Disqualification In Paralympics

Wheelchair racing training (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - Wheelchair racing athlete Jaenal Aripin apologized for his starting error, which caused him to be disqualified in the 400 meters T54 Paralympics Tokyo 2020. At that time, Jaenal immediately started early when the signal shot had not been sounded. For this incident, Jaenal admitted he was wrong and lost focus so he left the starting line early. "I want to clarify what happened earlier in my match at 400M classification T54," said Jaenal, in an official statement received in Jakarta, Sunday, August 29. Jaenal, who competed in the T54 classification, admitted that he was disappointed with what happened to him when he competed in that number. "Maybe there I made a mistake because I came out too quickly at the start. Maybe it was a very small difference with the sound of gunfire," he added. will appear in two races at the 2020 Paralympics, namely the men's 100 meters T54 on September 1, and the universal 4x100 meter relay with Karisma Evi Tiarani, Saptoyogo Purnomo, and Putri Aulia on September 3. "Tomorrow I will play in the 100m and relay. universal, once again I apologize to the trainers, Indonesian NPCs, the people of Indonesia. Hopefully tomorrow I can give you something g is best for Indonesia," he said.

The athlete from West Java hopes not to make the same mistake and can give his best in the next two numbers. "This mistake is also a valuable lesson for me so that in the future I can concentrate, focus more so that I can avoid mistakes like this," he said. Previously, the 2018 Asian Para Games silver medalist had to be disqualified in the 400-meter T-54 Paralympics Tokyo 2020 number so that he could not advance to the final round. The 33-year-old athlete was immediately removed from the race which took place at the Tokyo National Stadium, Sunday afternoon local time.