PREPMA EXPLAINS THREE MAIN CRITERIA FOR PARALYMPIC SWIMMERS SELECTION TO PARIS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Para Swimming Association (PREPMA) president Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin said the selection of athletes for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games was conducted following proper procedures and fair criteria.

In a statement today, he said that although three athletes met the minimum qualifying standard (MQS), Malaysia only secured two automatic slots from World Para Swimming (WPS) for the Paralympic Games, which will take place from Aug 28 to Sept 8.

The three athletes who achieved MQS are Muhammad Nur Syaiful Zulkafli in four events,  Zy Kher Lee in two events, with both athletes in the S5 class (physical impairment), and Muhammad Imaan Aiman Muhammad Redzuan in one event in the S14 class (intellectual impairment).

Megat D Shahriman said that after an application for a bipartite slot was unsuccessful, a selection meeting was held on July 3 to determine the two swimmers for Paris based on three main criteria - medal-winning potential, the number of events Malaysia would participate in, and exceptional performance.

He said head coach Fumiyo Minemura had presented a detailed assessment of each athlete according to these criteria based on performances from April 2023 to June.

“The probability of winning a medal was determined based on timing records, performance comparisons, and the calculation of sports science impact on training adaptation. Muhammad Imaan had the highest probability of winning a medal with 96.3 per cent for personal best (PB) and 94.8 per cent for season best (SB) in the men's 100m backstroke S14 event.

“This was followed by Muhammad Nur Syaiful with 95.5 per cent (PB) / 93.2 per cent (SB) in the men's 100m breaststroke SB4. For the S5 50m and 100m freestyle events, the probability of winning a medal was 94.7 per cent (PB) / 90.8 per cent (SB) and 96.0 per cent (PB) / 91.3 per cent (SB) respectively.

“The probability for the men's 200m freestyle S5 was 88.7 per cent (PB), but Muhammad Nur Syaiful did not participate in this event at the Madeira 2024 Para Swimming European Open Championships and WPS World Series Berlin 2024,” he said.

According to Megat D Shahriman, Zy, who competed in the same two events as Muhammad Nur Syaiful, namely, S5 200m freestyle and SB4 breaststroke, only managed to achieve a probability of 90.1 per cent (PB) / 88.2 per cent (SB) and 87.8 per cent (PB) / 83.3 per cent (SB) respectively, placing him third in the selection.

The Paralympic Council Malaysia (MPM) president said for the second criterion, the national contingent could compete in five events from two different categories if Muhammad Imaan Aiman was chosen, compared to Zy who is in the same category as Muhammad Nur Syaiful, where Malaysia could only compete in four events for the S5 class.

For the final criterion, Megat D Shahriman said Muhammad Nur Syaiful won a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke SB4, while Zy won two bronze medals and Muhammad Imaan Aiman won one bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games last year.

“Muhammad Imaan Aiman won bronze at the WPS World Series Limoges 2024 and added one qualifying event under MET (Minimum Entry Time) while Zy only won one bronze medal in the junior category. The awarding of two slots by WPS was based on the calculation of the highest ranking of the athletes of a country if more than one athlete met MQS.

“In this context, the ranking of Muhammad Nur Syaiful, which was seventh, was considered during the slot calculation by WPS. This answers the claims regarding Zy's world ranking contributing to the awarding of the two slots being inaccurate,” he said.

He added that as a result, Muhammad Nur Syaiful and Muhammad Imaan Aiman have been named for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Earlier, Zy, 17, appealed to be given a slot for the Paris Paralympics, while his father Walter Lee had questioned his son's exclusion from representing Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA