Rusdianto breaks record in 200m individual medley

KUCHING: Rusdianto Rusmadi broke another para SUKMA record at the first para swimming event on his third day of competing in 21st Para Malaysia Games (SUKMA).

The athlete established a new event record in the men’s 200m individual medley (SM7/SM8), finishing with a time of 2 minutes and 49.02 seconds, surpassing his teammate Galang Jabai, who secured the silver medal today.

Asked by reporters after the award presentation ceremony if he had expected to break the record, he confirmed that he did, saying it was reasonable to think so.

“Yes, you could say that. My training was enough, and I was quite confident because I trained every day, morning and evening.

On his success, he told the media that, “Despite the preparation and training that I went through daily, I could not believe that I broke the record.

“I did not expect anything and just did the best that I could. This record-breaking win today still feels overwhelming to me. 

“With what I have achieved here, I am targeting to represent Malaysia in the Para ASEAN Games in Thailand,” he said.

Rusdianto competed in two events on Wednesday as in his last event, the men’s 50m freestyle (S8), he won a silver medal, clocking at 30.63 seconds.

He was 2.91 seconds short of the gold medallist, Abd Halim Mohammad from Sabah, who broke the event record with a time of 27.72 seconds.

For the record, he has won a total of three gold medals and two silvers medals since the beginning of the para swimming on Sept 23 and broke his first record on Tuesday in the 100m backstroke (S7/S8).