From Farah Najihah Zuraimi
JAKARTA, Aug 20 (Bernama) — Born into a rubber tapper’s family in Pauh, Perlis, national deaf athletics athlete Zaiman Megat Abu, 24, has never allowed a life of hardship to be an excuse to stop ‘dreaming’, but instead uses it as motivation to raise Malaysia’s name on the world stage.
The youngest of five siblings now carries the big ambition of standing alongside his ‘training mate’ and national Paralympic champion, Datuk Abdul Latif Romly, with a mission to chase glory at the pinnacle of deaf sports, the Deaflympics Tokyo 2025.
Zaiman, who lost his hearing at the age of two after a fall, began to take athletics seriously at 17 when his talent was discovered by coach Sanusi Zainal Abidin, the same individual who once groomed Abdul Latif.
“I have trained once with Abdul Latif. The coach also always says I can be like Abdul Latif. Those are the words I hold on to until today,” he told Bernama ahead of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Deaf Games 2025 in Jakarta, which officially opens tomorrow and runs until next Tuesday (Aug 26).
The honour of carrying the Jalur Gemilang (national flag) during the opening ceremony is a symbol of his determination, with a single target — to ensure the gold medal in the triple jump event is brought home as a gift in conjunction with the 68th National Day on Aug 31.
Behind the success he is beginning to enjoy, Zaiman always places his family as his source of strength, especially his mother, Maznah Mansor, 65, following the loss of his late father, Megat Abu Mat Saman, who passed away at the age of 64.
Meanwhile, his coach Sanusi, 59, who is also a secondary school teacher in Perlis, views Zaiman as an extraordinary figure, as in his 30 years of coaching, this is the first time he has trained a deaf athlete without any foundation in sign language.
“Zaiman comes from a very poor family. He has done all sorts of jobs before becoming a full-time athlete.
“One thing I have never doubted about him is his commitment. If I set training at 4pm, by 3.45pm he is already on the field. Sometimes, if he has to come late because of work, he will make sure to continue training until he truly gets what I teach him,” he said.
He added that the first moment of their meeting seven years ago remains etched in his memory when Zaiman came to the field simply out of interest, never imagining that the journey would take him to the international stage.
“His parents really were his backbone, willing to send him to training every day even though we trained at various locations. I still remember, the day he came back from Iran with a gold and a silver medal, that very same day his father passed away.
“At that time, I told his family, let me take Zaiman to any competition. If there is fortune in rewards, he can buy a house for his mother because now he is the main pillar of the family, as his other siblings are already married,” he said emotionally.
Now, he pours all the knowledge he has with the hope that Zaiman can become his ‘second protégé’ to bring glory to the world stage, proving that persons with disabilities should never be looked down upon.
Earlier, the Malaysian contingent set a mission to capture 16 gold medals at the 2025 SEA Deaf Games, in order to defend the title won at the inaugural edition in Kuala Lumpur in 2022.
— BERNAMA
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