Para Sukma: Sacrificing two years away from family pays off for S’wak’s Marshall Lu Canner with javelin F33 gold medal

KUCHING (Sept 27): On his journey to the Para Malaysia Games (Para Sukma) 2024, Sarawak athlete Marshall Lu Canner had to sacrifice two years away from his family.

However, the struggles he endured finally paid off today when he claimed his first gold medal in the men’s javelin F33 category.

“I’ve been training in Kuching for the past two years for this Para Sukma, staying in the dorm provided for us, while my family is in Bintulu.

“I’m grateful to my coach. I know he’s tired, and we’ve been training under the sun for days, but he never gave up on me,” he said.

“In terms of the distance I aimed for, I hit my target, but I didn’t expect to win gold.”

The 41-year-old will return home to Bintulu for a well-deserved three-week break before resuming training here.

Teammate Muhammad Asyraaf Razali, who helped push Marshall’s wheelchair, also found success with a silver medal in the 400m and a bronze medal in the 800m for the T20 category.

He said Sarawak’s para athletics team performed exceptionally well in this edition of Para Sukma.

“There were some newcomers, starting from zero and to our surprise, they won medals in their first Para Sukma.

“You never know what will happen during the games,” he said.

He cited Mohamad Hishamuddin Razali, who won a silver medal in the men’s 400m and bronze medals in the 800m and 1,500m events (T35/T36 categories), as an example.

Muhammad Asyraaf added that hosting the Para Sukma Games in Sarawak provided a home turf advantage.

“Everything was smooth, our training was good, and we followed the instructions of the coaches and officials,” he said.

The F32 to F34 category is for athletes with cerebral palsy who use wheelchairs and are affected by hypertonia, athetosis, or ataxia.

Categories T35 to T38 are for athletes with cerebral palsy who do not compete in wheelchairs, while the T20 category is for athletes with intellectual impairments.