KUALA LUMPUR – The Kuala Lumpur contingent for the upcoming 2022 Para Malaysian Games (Sukma) is aiming for a fifth-place finish on the medal tally.
Scheduled to run from November 1 to 6, the games will see the KL contingent send 95 athletes, with a target of 25 gold medals.
KL contingent coordinator Mohd Faidurrida Yusoff said the targeted sports for gold medals are athletics, badminton, and bowling.
“We hope to improve on our last achievement at the 2018 Para Sukma, where we finished seventh and won 19 gold, 25 silver, and 21 bronze medals,” he told reporters after the delegation registration meeting today at the National Sports Council.
However, Faidurrida said three of their athletes – one from swimming and two from bowling – were dropped from the games as their intelligence level exceeded the threshold during the classification test.
“This will affect our medal target because they have been training for a long time for this.
“Not just that, but all the preparations done for them in terms of the accommodation and even their uniforms will now be affected as well.”
Faidurrida said there is a possibility that other athletes could also be dropped from the games after they go through the physical impairment and visual impairment classifications tests on October 30 and 31.
Meanwhile, Sukma secretariat head Mohd Yazid Shoib said that unlike Sukma, which does not recognise games records due to the new age limit for this year, the Para Sukma will recognise both games records as well as national records.
“This is because from the 2018 Para Sukma onwards, the age limit for the games has been 14 to 45 years old.
“It is the same this year as well, so we will recognise the games records unlike Sukma which changed their age limit this year due to the pandemic,” he said in a press conference after the meeting.
Yazid said the delegation registration meeting was to familiarise the contingents with the international games’ process of finalising athlete registration, accommodation, and transportation, and the accreditation of both athletes and officials.
He said Para Sukma will have a total of 10 sports with 294 events, and will see 1216 athletes compete for gold. – The Vibes, October 28, 2022
