KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama) – National News Agency of Malaysia (BERNAMA) photographer Ahmad Iskandar Kamaruzaman won a gold medal at the International Association of Art Photographers (IAAP) in the 'The Spirit of the Olympics: Beyond Victory and Defeat' competition.
The action of Nur Dhabitah Sabri's dive in the women's three-metre (m) springboard final at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Olympic Aquatic Centre clearly brought good luck for Ahmad Iskandar to be crowned the winner of the competition organised by the Gilavar Photo Club from Azerbaijan.
The 38-year-old beat Anvar Ilyasov of Uzbekistan who took home the IAAP silver medal while Vice-Ahmadov of Azerbaijan had to settle for the IAAP bronze medal.
Ahmad Iskandar did not expect to win gold at all after admitting that he had made a 'mistake' when submitting his nomination to the organisers recently.
"Actually, I wanted to send a picture of national track cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom who was involved in an accident while competing in the men's keirin final. However, I mistakenly sent Nur Dhabitah's photo as there was an error in the website system of the award," he told Bernama.
He admitted that it was not easy to take a picture of Nur Dhabitah but was satisfied to be able to produce a photo that he described as quite 'clean' against the backdrop of the iconic logo of the world's prestigious sports event.
Apart from Nur Dhabitah's photo, the photographer who has 13 years of experience also tried his luck by sending three other photos, namely the top gymnast Simone Biles from the United States, the world men's singles badminton champion Viktor Axelsen from Denmark as well as the track cycling rider's pix at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
Ahmad Iskandar is also proud of his success in enhancing BERNAMA's reputation at the international level and is grateful for the valuable opportunity given by the organisation to cover the 2024 Paris Olympics from July 26 to August 11.
-- BERNAMA