KUALA LUMPUR: The National Sports Council (NSC) are happy that para sports and the para athletes' training programmes have finally been acknowledged through the allocation of RM10 million under Budget 2022.

NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said they would use the allocation to further enhance the development of para sports and multiply the organisation of tournaments at the domestic level so as to produce a new batch of champions.

"This is the first time that an allocation has been set aside for the para athletes specifically for the development of the country's para sports. As such, it will further boost efforts to develop para sports at the domestic level so that more hidden talents among persons with disabilities (PwDs) can be unearthed.

"This way, we hope to help them so that they will be bold enough to step forward (and compete in sports) because there are parents who like to 'hide' their disabled children," he told Bernama today.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, when tabling Budget 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat today, announced that RM10 million had been allocated for the NSC specifically to improve training programmes for para athletes and implement the Para Sports League.

At the same time, Ahmad Shapawi said the NSC would obtain details of the allocation to the sports sector from the Finance Ministry soon.

"Generally, we are grateful for the government's assistance and trust in providing us with an allocation although we realise that the country is still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the country's economy is still far from strong," he said.

Meanwhile, the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) hoped that the NSC would consider giving half of the allocation to them to carry out development projects at the grassroots level.

PCM president Datuk Seri Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin this included efforts to unearth new talent and for the Paralympic athlete classification programme.

"The NSC can use the extra RM5 million for their elite training programme. I don't deny that the grassroots programme managed by the NSC is actually good but, at the end of the day, the athlete classification is done by the PCM. So, let us handle the grassroots training programme right until the athlete classification stage," he said.

Apart from the grassroots programme, he said the RM5 million funding could also empower the 25 national Para sports associations under the auspices of PCM and help PCM host several para sports championships in the future.

-- BERNAMA