KUALA LUMPUR – The father of national para swimmer Zy Lee Kher, Walter Lee, has slammed the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) and the Malaysian Para Swimming Association (Prepma), saying their objectives are not aligned with their strategies.
Walter’s response comes after PCM and Prepma recently clarified that the selection for the upcoming Paris Paralympics was based on the athletes’ ability to win medals for the country.
However, PCM president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman Zaharudin recently told Scoop that athletes were chosen and evaluated for Paris based on their performance timing rather than their world rankings.
For the record, Malaysia has two slots allocated by World Paralympic Swimming (WPS) for the para-swimming event in Paris, and Prepma is expected to send Nur Syaiful Zulkafli and Imaan Aiman Redzuan, while the bipartite slots open for application.
Prepma said that the selection process for Paris was conducted transparently and without any vested interests.
Unfortunately, the application for bipartite slots was unsuccessful.
Three athletes met the minimum qualifying time (MQS) for the multisport event, which were Syaiful (S5), Zy (S5), and Imaan (S14).
The selection criteria focused on the record time, potential to win medals, the number of events the national contingent would participate in, and extraordinary achievements.
The highest probability of winning a medal was held by Imaan with 96.3% based on personal best (PB) times.
Syaiful had a 95.5% probability for the Men’s SB4 100m breaststroke event.
In contrast, Zy’s probabilities were significantly lower, placing him third in the selection ranking.
Speaking to Scoop from Bangkok, Walter challenges the modules used by PCM and Prepma in evaluating its athletes to send to Paris, saying that it’s against the guidelines of the International Paralympic Council (IPC).
“First and foremost, I still haven’t got a response from PCM and Prepma on the clarification on why my son was placed in the bipartite slot when his world ranking is higher.
“Zy is ranked number seven in the world, and the bipartite slot is for those with low world rankings.
“At the same time, I don’t understand why they came up with a calculation on the probability by calculating their timing instead of their rankings? That itself is against the guidelines of IPC as calculations should be made based on rankings, not timings.
“I think both the PCM and Prepma are just randomly calculating the athletes’ probability without going through the IPC guidelines and without fully comprehending it.
“I think it’s time for both PCM and Prepma to come clean and prove to the country how they do their calculations as their criteria are not fair and destroy potential athletes like Zy to compete and win medals for the nation.
“If things continue this way, it’s going to be bad for our country and our athletes in the years to come,” said Walter when contacted.
This year’s Paralympics are scheduled to take place from August 28 to September 8. – July 18, 2024