KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s chef-de-mission Dr Ang Kean Koo and flag-bearer Abdul Latif Romly led the country’s 21-strong contingent with a mission to win the country’s first gold medal at the Paralympic Games, the most prestigious and biggest sports meet for athletes with disabilities, as it officially commenced its 15th edition in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday.
The skies around Maracana Stadium located in the sprawling Brazilian metropolitan city was once again lit with colourful fireworks as new Brazilian president Michel Temer opened the Paralympic Games with pomp and splendour for the 11-day competition which involves 4,300 athletes with disabilities from 161 countries.
The Malaysian contingent marched into the Maracana Stadium looking smart in orange ‘baju Melayu’ and ‘baju kurung’ with the accompanying ‘sampin’ and ‘ selendang’ bearing the tiger stripe motif.
They will be competing in 23 events.
For the record, Malaysia started participating in the Paralympic Games in 1972 in Heidelberg, Germany with only three athletes but sent none for the next three editions.
Malaysia rejoined the Games in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea and won its first medal, a bronze, through P. Mariappan in powerlifting. In Barcelona in 1992, Malaysia did better, winning one silver through Cheok Kon Fatt (powerlifting) and two bronze through Mariappan (powerlifting) and Mohd Khasseri Othman (athletics).
In the 13th Paralympics in Beijing in 2008, powerlifting athlete Siow Lee Chan created history as the first Malaysian female para-athlete to win a medal and the solitary one in that edition, a bronze.
At the London Games in 2012, Malaysia won a silver in archery through Hasihin Sanawi (recurve) and a bronze through Muhd Ziyad Zolkefli (shot put). — Bernama