Paragames power-lifters need all the support they can get to prepare for international competitions.
EYEING LONDON PARALYMPICS: State power-lifters (from left) Chang Chai Soon, Jong Yee Khie and Fatimah Wagimin.
GETTING around isn’t easy for Fatimah Wagimin.
With minimal use of her legs, she has to rely on a silver-coloured wheelchair that she pedals with her hands as she goes about her workout in her discipline of power-lifting.
This is a common sight at the State Sports Council gym where some of Sarawak’s national Paralympics power-lifters are sweating it out with pride and pain.
In the gym at the Civic Centre, considered one of the biggest in the city, Wagimin trains with the rest of the power-lifters.
Her legs strapped to a bench with help from her gym mates — Chang Chai Soon and Jong Yee Khie — she grabs the toweled grip of the iron bar and starts bench-pressing weights of not less than 50kg.
Her fellow trainees help her put the bar back on its supports after she has done the required repetitions.
“I enjoy doing this. If I can practise like this, I can do something,” she said between workouts.
Part of the national under-supported group of disabled athletes, the 32-year-old “Iron lady” took up power-lifting when she was 17-years old.
She has worked hard at her sport and her dedication has produced encouraging results.
So far, she has won silver medals in the 5th Asean Paragames in Kuala Lumpur and the IPC Power-lifting Asian Championships in the 80kg category.
Last year, she also took another silver medal in the 3rd APC Cup in Kuala Lumpur in the 85kg category.
She did not rest on her laurels but continued to work on her techniques and was rewarded with a gold medal in 2009 IWAS Games in the 80kg category.
She also competed in the 80kg categories of the 2004 Athens Paralympics, the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and the SEA Games (Paragames) in Vietnam last year.
Now she is preparing for the Asian Games in GuangZhou next month under the state power-lifting coach, Jamil Adam and assistant Shamsul Nizam.
For Wagimin, injury is the last thing she wants to think about.
“I’m afraid to get injured again. The cost is high if I were to injure myself in training. It’s scary but sometimes things like these happen.”
And she had that “low feeling” when she complained of shoulder pain after her return from the International Power-lifting Tournament in Dubai where she won a silver medal in 67.5kg category.
Looking forward to the 2012 London Paralympics, Wagimin hopes the authority concerned will soon rectify “a dearth of funding” to help the power-lifters out with dietary supplements.
“We do receive supplements like liquid-milk powder and vitamins to strengthen our muscles. My teammates and I need more such supplements, especially now, because our risk to injuries is higher as we have to train harder for tougher competitions.”
According to her, the RM500 allowance from the governing body is barely enough to buy even very basic supplements.
Wagimin said disabled athletes in the state and country needed a lot of assistance.
“We need more support from the government to make our country proud. Some athletes are in a dire need of help.
“There is little meaning for us if we only get our uniform, tickets and hotel accommodation when a big event is on. Even disabled people like us have talents and we want to build on them,” she added.
Continuing her training at the gym, she sat on the bench, strapped her legs and started her barbell bench press routine.
The 2012 London Paralympics, in particular, is what Wagimin and the other national power-lifters from Sarawak are aiming for.
“We can make it. All we need is more support for better training equipment and facilities. We need more barbells, weights and benches,” she said.
“You can still do something for your country even though you are disabled. Just don’t get too frustrated. The worst is that you aren’t trying at all.”
For the rest of the power-lifters and other disabled athletes, they will carry on with their preparations for competitions — just like ‘normal’ international athletes.