KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — The National Sports Council (NSC) has confirmed that 10 para athletes from five sports have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, which will be held from August 24-September 5, 2021.

The athletes are Muhd Nursaiful Zulfikri and Brenda Anelia (swimming); S. Suresh and Wiro Julin (archery); Mohd Ziyad Zolkefli, Wong Kar Gee, Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi and Abdul Latif Romli (athletics); Chew Wei Lun (boccia); and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (powerlifting).

NSC Paralympic Division director Mohd Sofian Hamzah said their target was to have 31 para athletes at the Tokyo Games.

"We are still monitoring the performances (of the para athletes) before announcing the full list because there are some who are injured and some who have yet to achieve their best results,” he told reporters after the sponsorship ceremony to hand over Bata shoes to the national Paralympic contingent today.

Also present were Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) president Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman, Bata Malaysia Marketing manager Diana Wong and Malaysian Bata consultant Datuk James Selvaraj.

Previously, the International Olympic Council (ICO), International Paralympic Council (IPC), 2020 Tokyo Organising Committee and the government of Japan had agreed to change the date for the 2020 Paralympics from August 24-September 6, 2020 to next year following the Covid1-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Megat D Shariman said the proposal to build a special sports school for para athletes in the country was still being jointly discussed with the Youth and Sports Ministry, Education Ministry and NSC. — Bernama