MELAKA: The final list of Malaysia’s contingent to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be known early July as the qualifying rounds for several sporting events involving Malaysian athletes will still take place until June.
National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail (pic) said the qualification process for the Olympics and Paralympics was still ongoing following many international tournaments being postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the qualification process also depended on international sports associations as they struggle to organise competitions, including some which had to cancel tournaments and use old rankings which resulted in some national athletes missing out on the Olympics.
“For badminton, we are still waiting for the two final championships – the Malaysian Open and the Singapore Open – while for the diving event, some of our athletes have left for Tokyo, Japan in their final attempt to qualify for the Olympics,” he said when met by reporters at Seri Negeri here, Tuesday.
He was escorting Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali to officiate the Road To Tokyo 2020 contingent support expedition.
Ahmad Shapawi said they had initially targeted 33 more athletes would qualify for the Olympics and Paralympics until the last qualifying process but several sports had lost their opportunity, including shooting and fencing.
Elaborating further, he said the national contingent was also ready if the men’s hockey team under head coach Arul Selvaraj was called up at the last minute to replace other countries that pull out.
“Our hockey team is the main reserve team and there are rumours that South Africa will withdraw due to constraints, however, we are waiting to see if there is confirmation that they really do not want to send a team to the Games.
“The team has been undergoing centralised training since June last year in preparation for international tournaments including friendly matches with Great Britain and Japan, who will be competing in the Olympics, and if we qualify, we are ready to go there,” he said.
So far, a total of 12 national athletes have successfully booked their slots in several events including cycling, artistic gymnastics, archery, sailing and diving while 14 para-athletes qualified in seven disciplines namely athletics, weightlifting, badminton, cycling, archery, boccia and swimming.
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