KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) has welcome the announcement of new dates for the Tokyo Paralympic Games from August 24 to Sept 5, 2021, describing it as a wise decision that demonstrates the unity among people and good spirit of sportsmanship.

MPC secretary-general Datuk R. Subramaniam said MPC fully supported the joint decision reached by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee.

"MPC is ready to work with the National Sports Council (MSN) in preparing the athletes who have the potential to be sent to qualifying tournaments, to enable more national athletes to compete in Tokyo 2021,” he said in a statement today.

The IOC had previously confirmed that the status of all qualified athletes and the quotas available for the 2020 Olympic Games would remain unchanged.

He said the opportunity was still open for athletes who were not yet qualified to prepare for the Games in 2021.

"We are aiming (to qualify) for five more sporting events to make it a total of nine events involving Malaysia out of the 23 sports events in the upcoming Paralympic Games, including powerlifting, badminton, boccia, table tennis and wheelchair tennis.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games had to be postponed for one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic currently sweeping the globe.

Several major events and tournaments such as the 2021 Para ASEAN Games in Vietnam and the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, are also expected to be rescheduled following the postponement of the Paralympic Games. — Bernama