PUTRAJAYA will present a specific proposal in the coming national budget next month to provide financial allocations to states to train para-athletes and to care for their educational needs and skills development.
National Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh announced this in Kuching at the opening of the Para Sukma Games at Stadium Perpaduan on Sunday.
"I have spoken to the Second Finance Minister on this specific budget for para-athletes and it is agreed that it will be tabled at the budget next month.
"The funds from the federal government will cover physical training, as well as education and also skills development.
"We want to see holistic development of our para-athletes. Their welfare and future are of concern to us.
"We are confident we can nurture more world-class talents in the coming years from all states," she said.
Early this month, national para-games hero Bonnie Bunyau Gustin of Sarawak won gold in the Paris Games and created a new world record of 232kgs in weightlifting in the 72kgs category.
He earlier created a world record at the ParaWorld Weightlifting Championship in the United Arab Emirates.
He won gold in the 72kg category, lifting 231 kg in the event, breaking his own earlier world record of 230 kg which he achieved in the 2021 world championship.
Bonnie is also the current Paralympic World Champion in the weightlifting event that he won at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020.
Bonnie started hitting national headlines by winning world events in 2019.
Last year, he also won gold for Malaysia in the Commonwealth Para-games in Birmingham England in the same weightlifting category. - September 24, 2024
