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A Malaysian Paralympic shot putter was stripped of his gold medal and world record for turning up three minutes late to his event, sparking an international row between his country and Ukraine.
Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli won gold in the F20 class final on Tuesday but the Ukrainian athletes who finished in silver and bronze complained that the Malaysian and two others turned up for the competition too late.
The three athletes were allowed to compete under protest while their tardiness was being investigated. Ziyad broke his own Paralympic world record with a 17.93m throw but was disqualified with the two others - Ecuador's Jordi Patricio Congo Villalba and Australia's Todd Hodgetts.
After an appeal by Ziyad's team was rejected, Ukraine's Maksym Koval picked up the gold with countryman Oleksandr Yarovyi claiming the silver. Greece's Efstratios Nikolaidis sneaked onto the podium with a bronze.
Malaysian residents raged on social media about the decision, flooding the Ukrainian Embassy for Malaysia's Facebook page with comments over the weekend calling for the country to hand the gold over to Ziyad.
Malaysian Paralympic athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli was stripped of his gold medal as he turned up for the competition three minutes late
