KUCHING - The Para Malaysian Games (Para Sukma) 2024, which drew its curtain at Perpaduan Stadium, here, on Sept 28, saw some new talents having the potential to be absorbed into the national badminton squad in the future.
National badminton squad coach, Muhammad Syafiq Iqbal Mohd Nadzri said he has identified several young players who may have a chance to get a place in the back-up programme run by the National Sports Council (MSN).
He said, among the line-up of young players that caught his attention were those who performed in three physical disability class events, namely men's singles SU5, women's singles SH6 and women's singles SL4.
"Overall I am satisfied with the new talent in Para Sukma this time. These people have potential and can be absorbed (back-up programme) but it depends on (consideration) MSN.
"Although they are still young on average between 18 and 24 years old, they need to be polished again with a solid training programme to go further," he said.
If the names he proposed are approved by MSN, he said all of them will be based at the Paralympic Centre of Excellence in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur.
At the same time Muhammad Syafiq was happy to see the performance displayed by the athletes who were actually in the MSN programme with all of them winning gold in their respective categories.
He said, among the players are Mohamad Faris Ahmad Azri of Terengganu who won men's singles SU5 gold, men's singles SH6 gold medalist Muhammad Amin Azmi (Penang) and men's singles SL4 gold winner Mohd Yusman Zahar (Johor).
"I am very satisfied with the performances displayed by the athletes under the auspices of the programme with some of them clashing with each other in the final," he said.
Badminton events which lasted five days from Monday to Friday at the Sarawak Badminton Association Hall, here, saw the Perak squad topping the sport with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
The host contingent, Sarawak was in second place (3-1-4) while Penang emerged as the third best team (1-2-0) out of a total of 15 competing contingents.
Sarawak emerged as the overall champion of the biennial event with 82 gold, 53 silver and 74 bronze, thereby usurping the throne from Sabah who ranked second in the medal collection chart (62-42-32) and Johor emerged as the third best team (33-35-29) out of a total of 15 contingents competing this time. - BERNAMA