Written By : Sandru
One down and one more to go.
With the Olympics flame doused, the world will now shift their focus to the Tokyo Paralympics which starts from Aug 24-Sept 5.
As with the Tokyo Games, the Paralympics promises to be a star-studded affair with thousands of athletes worldwide competing in 539 events across 22 sports.
Malaysia will be represented by 22 athletes in nine sports and are targeting three golds.
And their age range from 15-year-old Brenda Anellia Larry, who will be making her debut in swimming to 33-year-old sprinter Mohd Ridzuan Puzi, who will be defending his 100m T36 Paralympic (co-ordination impairments) title in Tokyo. Ridzuan is one of the 18 male athletes.
The Malaysians will be competing in archery, athletics, badminton, boccia, cycling, powerlifting, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair tennis.
At the last Games, Malaysia rocked Rio de Janeiro with three golds and one bronze – all from track and field.
Ridzuan stormed to a new Games record while Ziyad Zolkefli smashed the world record en route to the men’s shot putt F20 (intellectual impairment) gold.
Not to be outdone, Abdul Latif Romly also broke the men’s long jump T20 (intellectual impairment) world record three times to deliver the third gold. Siti Noor Radiah Ismail took bronze in the women’s long jump T20 category.
Before Rio, Malaysia has never won gold at the Games managing only silver and bronze.
Since then, the Malaysian Paralympics fraternity have world champions not just in athletics but also in badminton, archery and powerlifting.
Sarawak’s powerlifter Bonnie Bunyau Gustin will carry the challenge to deliver Malaysia’s first ever Paralympic gold in the sport.
The 20-year-old is ranked number one in the world rankings in the men’s above 72kg. He broke the world record with a 230kg lift en route to gold in the Para Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai in June.
S. Suresh became Malaysia’s first para archery world champion when he won the men’s recurve Open at the 2019 World Archery Para Championships in Holland.
The Paralympics will be an eagerly awaited moment for Cheah Liek Hou as badminton will be making its debut.
Liek Hou, trained by former Olympic bronze medallist Rashid Sidek, heads to Tokyo as the hot favourite. He is unbeaten this year and has won six tournaments on the trot.
In athletics, Ziyad and Abdul Latif are again the gold medal prospects.
“Ziyad and Abdul Latif still hold their world records, so I think they have a good chance in Tokyo,” said head coach R. Jeganathan.
“Ziyad improved on the world mark during simulation training in Bukit Jalil last month but it’s not a national record as no officials were around, so I think he is on good form for a gold.
“Ridzuan is still a medal target but I feel it will be very hard for him to defend his title as Australia’s James Turner has done a much faster time and is the current world record holder,” added Jeganathan.
THE CONTINGENT
ATHLETICS
Men: Abdul Latif Romly, Ziyad Zolkefli, Mohd Ridzuan Puzi, Wong Kar Gee.
Women: Siti Noor Iasah Mohd Ariffin.
ARCHERY
Men: S. Suresh, Wiro Julin.
BADMINTON
Men: Cheah Liek Hou, Didin Terasoh.
BOCCIA
Men: Chew Wei Lun.
CYCLING
Men: Mohd Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin, Mohd Hafiz Jamali, Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi.
Women: Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais-Nurul Suhada Zainal.
POWERLIFTING
Men: Bonnie Bunyau Gustin, Jong Yee Khie
SWIMMING
Men: Mohd Nur Syaiful Zulkifli, Jamery Siga.
Women: Brenda Anellia Larry.
TABLE TENNIS
Men: Chee Chao Ming.
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Men: Abu Samah Borhan.
