Paralympics: Reezal Merican to announce medal target soon, expects better haul compared to Rio

He also expressed confidence that the national contingent would do much better compared to their achievement at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

"There are signs that the results in Tokyo may be better than that achieved in Rio. However, what is important is to ensure the athletes' safety so as to enable them to perform and contribute medals to the nation.

"Insya Allah, I will announce the medal target in the next one or two days," he said in an audio clip shared with the media today.

He said this after observing the final phase of the para athletes' preparations for the Tokyo Paralympics, namely that of the badminton, boccia and table tennis players at the National Sports Council (NSC) training centre here. Also present was NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.

The national Paralympic contingent made history at the 2016 Rio Games when they returned home with three golds and one bronze in athletics, thus finishing 36th in the overall medal standings.

The first gold medal came from sprinter Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi in the 100m T35 (cerebral palsy) category; followed by Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli in the shot put F20 (learning disability) category; and Abdul Latif Romly in long jump T20 (learning disability) category; while Siti Noor Radiah bagged a bronze in the women's long jump T20 (learning disability) category.

Meanwhile, Reezal Merican said that national para badminton men's singles ace Cheah Liek Hou was also a potential medallist at the Aug 24-Sept 5 Tokyo Paralympics.

He said this was based on the fact that world number two Liek Hou emerged champion of the SU5 (upper body disability) category after defeating Indonesia's world number one Anrimusthi Dheva 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in the final of the Fazza-Dubai Para Badminton International tournament in the United Arab Emirates in April.

Reezal Merican also took the opportunity to check on the final preparations of world number 11 boccia athlete Chew Wei Lun and world number 19 paddler Chee Chao Ming.