KUALA LUMPUR: From helicopter crash survivor to Paralympic archer, there can be few more courageous life stories than that of 45-year old Yuhaizam Yahaya.
It is one of an undying desire to bring honour to the country, but more than that, the father of four believes he is fullfilling a duty to himself by living life to the fullest when he debuts in the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Sept 7-18.
Yuhaizam’s is a story of a rise from the ashes of a tragedy that rocked the nation on March 5, 2004.
On that ill-fated day, a Royal Malaysian Air Force Nuri helicopter experienced mechanical failure shortly after takeoff from the RMAF base in Butterworth. Piloting the chopper was Yuhaizam.
Two of his crew members died in the crash. He was the lone survivor, but at a heavy cost: the crash left him paralysed below the waist.
“My life goals are simple. Since that moment, I just wanted to continue living as I did. I was always a keen sportsman, but obviously I could not do many of the things I did before the accident,” said Yuhaizam.
Yuhaizam picked up archery while studying at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in 2010 and found himself so engrossed in the sport that he soon found himself representing the country.
“I was always like that. Everything I ever was interested in, I did it seriously and dedicated myself to it. After trying it out, I was really smitten by the complexity and the challenge that the sport posed,” said Yuhaizam, who hails from Kamunting, Perak.
Within a year of taking up the sport, Yuhaizam delivered a gold medal in the individual event at the Asean Para Games in Solo, Indonesia, a feat he repeated in Singapore last year, having had to settle for the silver in Myanmar in 2013.
Despite missing out on qualification for the 2012 Paralympics in London, four years later, he found himself among the 21-strong national contingent that left for the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
“I had set myself a target of a medal at the Paralympics and I am aiming for that. This time it would be a big ask, because my ranking is a long way from those who would be targeting a medal in Rio. But I am working towards that in the Tokyo Paralympics,” said Yuhaizam. But the Paralympics isn’t the only thing on Yuhaizam’s mind.
“I watched the Olympics last month. I saw this wheelchair-bound Iranian archer, Zahra Nemati, there competing against able-bodied athletes and I thought to myself, one day I want to do that too,” he said.
“Archery is a sport that makes it possible for us to compete on a level playing field against able-bodied athletes, as it is about mainly upper-body strength.
“Even locally, in competitions, we do compete in open competitions, where as a team we’ve even managed second-placed finishes. The Olympics is thus my next big dream.”
-NST
