Yee Khie clearly was unable to hide his feelings, while remembering his mother, the late Chow Good Sing, who died of a heart attack last October.

“If the Paralympic Games had not been cancelled because of Covid-19 last year, my mother would have seen my success.

“While on the podium, in my heart, I told my mother that I had won the silver medal. I hope she heard it and is proud of me from up there,” he said.

Sadly, due to the constraints of a tight training schedule as well as the Movement Control Order, he had been unable to be by his mother’s side when she passed away at the age of 71.

“When I arrived in Sarawak, I was only able to attend the prayer ceremony before my mother’s body was cremated,” he added.

In today’s action, despite being unsuccessful in his first attempt to lift 230kg, he bounced back to secure the silver medal in his second attempt, lifting 237kg.

However, the 32-year-old hairdresser from Batu Kawa, Kuching, was later unable to improve further when he failed in his third and final attempt to lift 245kg. He made his Paralympics debut at Rio 2016 where he finished seventh in the 97kg category.

Yee Khie, who said he was “envious” of the success achieved by three national Para athletes, namely Ridzuan Puzi who won gold in the 100m T36, Ziyad Zolkefli (gold in T20 shot put) and bronze medallist Abdul Latif Romly (T20 long jump) at Rio 2016, added that their feats spurred him to win in Tokyo.

On his performance today, Yee Khie said he was unhappy he failed in his bid for the gold medal that was won by Sodnompiljee Enkhbayar of Mongolia.

Yee Khie said his right hand, which was seen to be unstable in his last attempt, had caused the lift to be untidy and he was subsequently disqualified by the referee.

Nevertheless, he said he will try to win the coveted gold medal at Paris 2024.

Yee Khie also dedicated his medal to the country in conjunction with Merdeka tomorrow, and thanked Malaysians for their support to the Paralympic athletes competing in Japan.

Sodnompiljee started convincingly when he did 241kg to break the Paralympic record of 238kg set by Pavlos Mamalos of Greece at Rio 2016 and again stole the limelight when he broke his own record after lifting 245kg in his second attempt.

The bronze medal went to Saman Razi of Iran who lifted 231kg.

Today is the last day of the powerlifting competition at the Games.