KUALA LUMPUR − An intensive training camp for the full contingent to the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China is expected to be in place two months before the Games, which is scheduled from October 9-15.
Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman Zahiruddin said currently, the athletes who are in the Podium Programme were continuing their training as usual to face the Games and other meets.
However, for athletes who are not in the programme and are training outside, such as the goalball and wheelchair basketball teams, thorough preparations are only expected to begin in August.
“If possible, we want to have training for at least two months, if longer even better (as) the number of athletes in the Podium Programme have been reduced based on performance level.
“This is a more appropriate approach. We don’t want our athletes to take things for granted − staying in the programme for years without any achievements,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Megat said that although the status of Malaysia’s participation in the Asean Para Games (APG) scheduled in Solo, Indonesia from July 23-30 has not been decided, PCM have registered about 200 athletes in the spirit of sportsmanship.
“We at the Board of Governors of the Asean Para Games Federation (APSF) have yet to receive any official indication from the organisers whether the APG will proceed or not. We do not want our athletes to face problems due to the organisers not being ready,” he said.
Megat also stressed that there would be a clash of dates involving the Solo APG and the Commonwealth Games, with countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, which are Commonwealth countries, also participating in the Solo Games.
He said the management of the athletes for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games from July 28 to August 8 would be done by the Olympic Council of Malaysia.
According to Indonesian media reports, work to upgrade the venue is scheduled to begin later this month and is expected to take around 100 days.
Due to that, the organisers proposed to change the scheduled dates for the APG to that of July 30 to August 6. – Bernama, April 17, 2022
