THE Synthetic Turf Field (STF) of the Kuala Lumpur Sports City in Bukit Jalil – venue for the 9th ASEAN Para Games archery competition, is almost ready for use.
With the on-going training sessions since 14 Sept, Faizil Nizam Ibrahim, the chief judge and technical official for the competition, said STF will be ready before the compound (50m) and recurve (70m) events begin on Monday (Sept 18).
Para archery offers six gold medals with Malaysia, defending champions Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Cambodia vying gold medals.
“We’re 80 per cent ready in terms of preparations for the Para Games. We still have another two days to ensure everything is in place for the tournament.
“Currently we are fixing ramps for wheelchair spectators,” said Faizil, a former national Para archery coach who led the team to the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, China.
“Eight international technical officials and 16 national technical officers while 20 assistant national technical officials have been enlisted to ensure the smooth running of the event,” he said.
In addition to that, he added that 70 volunteers will also be assisting these officials at the venue. The medical teams have also been on duty since the first day of training sessions on Thursday.
“Basically, the procedure to operate the Para Games venue is almost similar to the SEA Games. The only difference is that Para athletes will have a larger space to move about at the starting line which is 40cm wider then able-bodied athletes,” added Faizil.
