Ziyad was allowed to compete in the F20 final in Tokyo yesterday despite being late, and went on to win the gold medal, breaking the world and Malaysian able-bodied records.

However, he was later disqualified, along with two other athletes, by officials who determined they had no good reason for their late arrival at the call room. The gold went instead to Ukraine’s Maksym Koval.

The committee’s spokesman Craig Spence said a referee determined there was “no justifiable reason” for Ziyad turning up late, and an appeal was subsequently rejected.

Despite this, Spence said the Ukrainian athlete was now “getting a lot of abuse from Malaysians”.

“People say the Ukrainian stole the gold. No, absolutely not. The Ukrainian had nothing to do with it. It was the athletes who were late,” Spence said.

“There’s been a massive outpouring of emotion from many Malaysians on social media. Very abusive. Ridiculous, in my view,” he added.

He said the latecomers had argued they had not heard the announcement to gather or that it was in a language they did not understand – but he noted that the other athletes had managed to get there on time.

The F20 category in shot put is for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

On social media, critics showed no sign of accepting the disqualification of Ziyad, who won gold at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, with health minister Khairy Jamaluddin condemning the “shameful decision”.

“An absolute disgrace that goes against the spirit of the Paralympics,” he tweeted. “Mean spirited and petty. A stolen gold medal and world record.”

The Agong also urged “the relevant authorities to study the reasons for the disqualification … so that it will not be repeated in the future”, according to a Palace statement.

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah also said he was “proud of (Ziyad’s) achievements and performance”, it added.

Ziyad himself posted just a short message on Instagram apologising and thanking Malaysians for their support.