World top 15 ranking needed to qualify for 2016 Paralympic Games

Paralympic athletes need to be ranked within the top 15th in the world to qualify on merit for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

National Sports Council (NSC) Paralympics branch director, Mohd Safrusahar Yusuf said currently Malaysia had 17 athletes ranked within the top 10 in the world.

"The 17 athletes shortlisted were among the gold medalists in the 2014 Asian Paralympic Games in Incheon, South Korea in athletics, swimming, powerlifting and cycling.

"Our focus now is to ensure they continue to improve their rankings in the world before the Games or at least maintain their existing positions," he said when met by Bernama, here today.

He said NSC had planned its 2015 development programme to ensure paralympic athletes did not miss qualification to the 2016 Paralympics.

Mohd Safrusahar said paralympic atheletes had started their training session for the 8th Asean Para Games in Singapore in December, three weeks after the 2014 Asian Games concluded.

The national paralympics squad collected a silver and a bronze in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London through archer Hasihin Sanawi and Muhammad Ziyad in the shot put event.