KUALA LUMPUR, 24 July – It was a day of fun and joy as members from the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO)-Malaysia Chapter and Paralympic fraternity converged to participate in various sporting activities at the Gardens International School here, recently.
The event, which saw the participation of national wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball para team, is aimed at exposing and educating the community on the struggles and achievement of paralympians. Also present were Malaysia’s two former paralympians Lee Seng Chow (shot putt, hammer, discus and javelin) and Datuk Zakaria Musa (wheelchair tennis).
The event was jointly organized by YPO,in collaboration with the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC). More than 100 YPO members, including spouses, children, athletes and officials from Asian Paralympic Committee and Paralympic Council of Malaysia took part in the event.
YPO-Malaysia Chapter is a non-profit organization which is part of the World Presidents’ Organisation (WPO) set up where members are made up of corporate leaders and captains, such as CEOs from various organisations and business entities in the country. Former Paralympians Lee Seng Chow and wheelchair tennis former player Datuk Zakaria Musa related stories on their struggles, tears, and painbefore scaling great heights and achievement in their respective sporting disciplines.
Despite being diagnosed as totally blind at a young age of 21, shot putter and hammer thrower Lee Seng Chow never gave up and overcome his fear and disappointment by giving his all to achieve his dream – to be a paralympian.
Lee, now 58, tasted competition at the highest level when he qualified for the Seoul (1988) and Atlanta(1996) Paralympic Games and won numerous titles and gold medals in the Asian and Asean levels.
For Datuk Zakaria Musa, 62, who was paralysed from the waist down at the age of 40, it was a case of better late than never. Despite taking up wheelchair tennis at a late age of 45, he managed to amass more than 170 medals and become a paralympian at the age of 54 in Athens 2004.
“Despite being paralyzedfrom the waist downat the age of 40, I never gave up. I finally achieved my dream of becoming among the world’s top wheelchair tennis player and a paralympian after qualifying for the Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004,†relates Datuk Zakaria who competed in various top-notch competitions around the world since 1994.
Participants were thrilled to bits as they tried their hands on sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball, pitting their skills against the Malaysian players during the event. “This is indeeda good effort initiated by YPO to expose the community to Paralympic sports and what it takes to succeed as a disabled athlete,†said Datuk Zainal Abu Zarin, Asian Paralympic Committee president who was present at the event.
Also present were APC secretary general Malini and Paralympic Council of Malaysia General Manager Syed Mahadzir Syed Yassin.
“We definitely need many more events of this nature to help us engage the community and help the society understand what para sports is all about and the struggles and achievement of our athletes,†said Datuk Zainal.
