Jeganathan eyeing more Tokyo slots for para athletes

KUALA LUMPUR: National para athletics chief coach R. Jeganathan is targeting for more Malaysians to qualify by merit for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, which have been postponed to next year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’m still waiting for the 2021 competition calendar from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which is expected to be issued in November or December, before deciding which tournaments the national para athletes would participate in,” he said yestertday.

So far, four para athletes - Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi (100m T36), Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (shot put F20), Abdul Latif Romly (long jump F20) and Jonathan Wong Kar Gee (long jump T12) -- have qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics after winning medals at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

“If domestic competitions are allowed this year, whether for para or regular athletes, I will send our athletes to compete for exposure, in preparation for several international meets early next year,” he told Bernama.

Jeganathan said nine national para athletes had been in centralised training in Bukit Jalil here under the Road to Tokyo (RTT) programme since June 8, with the focus on building muscle strength and endurance to help get them back to top-level performance.

He said they would be given a few days’ break after the RTT ends on June 30, before resuming training at the Paralympic Centre of Excellence in Kampung Pandan early next month.

“The implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18 had affected the performance of the national para athletics squad, and my focus now is on the conditioning process as they are only at 40 per cent of their previous level.

“During the MCO, coaches like Syahrul Amri Suhaimi and Faizul Haron and I continued to monitor the national para athletes through videos of their home training sessions,” he added.