KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh offered her condolences to the family of national para swimmer Jaflee Jikol, who passed away yesterday.
“This is a huge loss for the para-athlete family in the country,” she said in a Facebook post.
Jaflee, who hails from Tongod, Sabah, was a bronze medallist at the Asean Para Games in Cambodia this year in the 4×100 m medley relay along with Abdul Halim Mohammad, Fraidden Dawan and Muhammad Nur Syaiful Zulkafli.
The 21-year-old also participated at the Citi Para Swimming World Series in Singapore in April.
Last year, he won gold in the 100m backstroke event in the Para Sukma Games in Kuala Lumpur, breaking his own national record in the process.
According to media reports, Jaflee had been suffering from cancer and was receiving treatment for it at Queen Elizabeth 1 Hospital.
In October, he received RM2,000 from Sabah Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ellron Angin, adding to the RM19,000 received earlier, to ease the financial burden of his cancer treatment. – December 18, 2023