SHAH ALAM – Strong performances by a group of young Sarawak para athletes at the Para Malaysia Games (Para SUKMA) in Selangor have provided encouragement for the state’s long-term development of para sports.
Several young competitors have made an early impact at the Games, including by setting new records, according to Sarawak para athletics head coach Matthew Chin Hiong Choi.
He said the results indicated that Sarawak had emerging athletes capable of developing into future representatives of the state, although many still had considerable room for improvement.
“We are very satisfied because we have a group of very young athletes who still have many years to continue competing,” Matthew said.
“They have started breaking records and this is a good sign that we will not be short of athletes to represent Sarawak in the future,” he added.
Matthew was speaking to reporters after the para athletics competition at the UiTM Shah Alam Stadium on Monday.
He said the performances also highlighted the importance of continuing investment in grassroots athlete development, particularly in identifying potential competitors at an early stage.
According to Matthew, early identification would allow promising athletes to receive more structured guidance and support as they progress through their sporting careers.
He said Sarawak would also step up efforts to identify additional para sports talent across the state, with the aim of developing athletes systematically from the early stages of their careers.
“We hope that more new talents can be discovered in Sarawak and subsequently shaped and developed into champions like the athletes we see today,” he said.
The emergence of younger competitors comes as Sarawak looks beyond the immediate results of the current Games and towards maintaining a pipeline of athletes for future competitions.
For para athletics, developing new talent is particularly significant because sustained participation requires athletes to progress through different stages of training and competition over a number of years.
Matthew said the achievements recorded by the younger athletes should therefore be viewed not only in terms of the medals and records secured during the Games, but also for what they could mean for the future depth of Sarawak’s para athletics squad.
The performances have given the state’s coaching team an indication of the potential within its younger ranks, while also pointing to the need for continued development work.
With athletes still at an early stage of their competitive careers, further training and exposure will be important in helping them build on their performances and reach higher levels of competition.
The focus on grassroots development is also expected to support the discovery of athletes from different parts of Sarawak, widening the pool from which future representatives can be developed.
For now, the progress made by the young athletes at the Selangor Games offers an early indication that Sarawak has emerging talent capable of contributing to its para sports programme in the years ahead.
