SEPANG, Sept 11 — National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Abdul Rashid Yaakub expressed regrets over a statement by Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPM) president Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin regarding the achievements of the country’s athletes at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games which ended last Sunday.

He said the athletes should always be supported regardless of whether they win or lose and not to point fingers at anyone when the target set is not achieved.

Abdul Rashid said there was no issue of NSC interfering and ‘bullying’ the Malaysian chef de mission (CDM) to the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Datuk R. Subramaniam as claimed by Megat D Shahriman because all decisions were mutually agreed upon by all quarters, with MSN never objecting to any decision made by MPM.

“I am more upset because MPM was the one to set the target, but when it was not achieved, there is no need to point fingers and find faults. NSC is not saying that it is not responsible, MPM is also responsible, but there is no need to point fingers at anyone,” he said.

Abdul Rashid described the statement by Megat D Shahriman as reckless, extreme and hasty.

“On the night Datuk Abdul Latif Romly missed the gold and won the silver, was also a similar statement, even though we met almost every day for discussion at the Sports Village,” he told reporters after welcoming the return of the national contingent from the Paris 2024 Paralympics at the Kuala International Airport Lumpur (KLIA) Terminal 1, last night.

Paris 2024 Paralympic Games was held from Aug 28 to Sept 8.

The Malaysian contingent left for Paris with a target of four gold medals but brought home two golds, two silvers and one bronze.

The gold medals were contributed by men’s singles badminton player Cheah Like Hou for the SU5 event (physical disability) and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin in the men’s 72-kilogramme (kg) powerlifting event.

Abdul Latif won the silver medal in the T20 men’s long jump (intellectual disability) and Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli in the F20 men’s shot put (intellectual disability), while Eddy Bernard won bronze in the T44 men’s 100m (physical disability).

Abdul Rashid was commenting on Megat D Shahriman’s claim that NSC interfered in the management of the Malaysian contingent at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and that was one of the factors for Malaysia’s failure to achieve the target of four gold medals.

Abdul Rashid said although the team brought home one less gold medal at the Games this year, the overall performance of the national contingent remained consistent, winning five medals as they did in the Tokyo 2020 edition (three gold and two silver) and three gold and one bronze in Rio 2016.

Meanwhile, Subramaniam denied that he was “bullied”.

As the CDM, my mission was to take the team there, complete the mission and bring them safely, which I’ve done. We didn’t lose the war we just lost the battle in Paris. There’s always another day for us to fight back.

“I believe what he (Megat D Shahriman) is trying to say is for improvement of the system. He wants to improve the system,” he said. — Bernama