KUCHING: About seven disabled (OKU) athletes from Sarawak have been selected to go to Kuala Lumpur in May for the final circuit of Para ASEAN Games in September.
This was disclosed by Sarawak Tenpin Bowling Association president Dunstan Lim in a courtesy call to Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah at Baitulmakmur in Petra Jaya, here, on Thursday.
The courtesy call aimed to let the public know the activities of the OKU athletes besides promoting their next event.
“We always want our athletes to be Malaysian champions and even to be the world champions. Therefore, we need to train them earnestly.
“Our association’s responsibility is to handle our Sarawak athletes and to prepare them for training, development, coaching as well as clinics for them to improve their game,” said Lim.
He added that the association still needs the communities to help them financially so that they can do the best for their OKU athletes.
He said the athletes are currently training hard by doing a lot of activities to keep their spirits.
“Our next event is on May 20 in Miri, in conjunction with Miri City Day and we will be inviting OKU athletes from Miri, some corporate members as well as government servants to play tenpin bowling with us.
“We also wish to have a tenpin bowling game with the normal people so that both can understand each other better,” he said.
Meanwhile, Fatimah said in order to develop sports among OKU athletes, her ministry has appointed an official to deal with the matter.
“This shows how serious we are in order to develop and provide opportunities for our OKU athletes to participate in sporting events and others as well.
“Apart from the athletes, coaches are also specifically important to us and Sarawak needs high-spirited coaches that could help to continuously be the Paralimpiad Games champions as well as producing a world class Paralimpiad athletes,” she said.
