Glasgow 2026: Erry Gives Malaysia Third Gold, Two Lawn Bowls Representatives Reach Final
GLASGOW: The success of weightlifter Muhammad Erry Hidayat in delivering the country’s third gold medal, as well as the advancement of two lawn bowls representatives to the finals, brightened the Malaysian contingent’s campaign on the fourth day of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games today.
Muhammad Erry stole the spotlight when he won the men’s 79 kilogram (kg) category with a total lift of 331kg, thus securing his first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games stage after bringing home silver in the 73kg category at Birmingham 2022.
The 26-year-old athlete lifted 147kg in the snatch and 184kg in the clean and jerk, with his clean and jerk record and total lift setting new Games records at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Armadillo.
The success also saw Muhammad Erry following in the footsteps of his father, Hidayat Hamidon, who had won a weightlifting gold medal at the Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Muhammad Erry’s gold is the third for the national contingent after Mohamad Aniq Kasdan and Muhamad Aznil Bidin topped the men’s 60kg and 65kg categories respectively on Sunday.
At the SEC, the lawn bowls camp also brought good news when men’s singles player Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple and women’s pairs pair Aleena Ahmad Nawawi-Syafiqa Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman each confirmed their places in the finals.
Izzat Shameer will face England’s Sam Tolchard while Aleena-Syafiqa will also face England’s Amy Pharaoh-Sian Honnor in the finals tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 3×3 basketball event, the national squad made history by advancing to the quarter-finals in their debut appearance at the Commonwealth Games after finishing second in Group B.
Malaysia, comprising Chang Zi Fueng, Chong Zhen Yang, Ting Chun Hong and Ooi Xian Fu, defeated Jamaica 21-15 in their final group match after recording wins over Fiji, Kenya and Singapore, besides narrowly losing 19-21 to defending champions England.
The national squad will face hosts Scotland in the quarter-finals tomorrow, with the winner scheduled to face Australia in the semi-finals.
In the pool, para-swimmer Abdul Halim Mohammad finished sixth in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9 final with a time of 1 minute 16.41 seconds.
Tomorrow’s focus will be on national para-long jump star Datuk Abdul Latif Romly, who will compete in the men’s T20 long jump event, besides two finals involving lawn bowls athletes who could potentially ensure Malaysia achieves the target of five gold medals as previously set.
Malaysia now has a total of three golds and two bronzes, placing them seventh on the Glasgow 2026 medal tally.
Defending champions Australia remain at the top with 26 golds, 13 silvers and 20 bronzes, followed by England in second place (8,13,11) and Canada third (7,8,6).
BERNAMA