Meet The Malaysian Athletes Competing At The Rio Paralympic Games Next Week

A total of 21 athletes will compete in eight sports, namely athletics, cycling, powerlifting, archery, ping pong, sailing, wheelchair tennis and swimming.

The Rio Paralympics is going to be 45-year-old Yahaya's debut Paralympic Games competing in archery, having missed out on qualification for the 2012 Paralympics.

He was involved in a tragic RMAF Nuri helicopter crash, that he was piloting, back in March 2004. The helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from the RMAF base in Butterworth and resulted in the death of his two crew members.

While Yahaya was the lone survivor, it came at a grave cost: the crash left Yahaya, 33 years old back then, completely paralysed below the waist.

Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, he now wants to bring honour to the country by fulfilling, what he calls, a duty to himself by living life to the fullest.

"I had set myself a target of a medal at the Paralympics and I am aiming for that. This time, it would be a big ask because my ranking is a long way from those who would be targeting a medal in Rio," NST quoted Yahaya as saying.

Having already made his country proud at the London Paralympics 2012 with his Silver Medal in the individual recurve for the W1 category, the 33-year-old national elite archer, Hasihin Sanawi will be hoping to bring Malaysia its first ever Gold at the Paralympics.

19-year-old Romly, who is debuting at Rio Paralympics, is itching to make his mark in history by breaking the world record for men's long jump in the T20 category.

Having already won Gold at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, the Perlis-born athlete is ranked second in the world in his category.

Speaking to Bernama, Romly – who is also the flag bearer for the Malaysian contingent in Rio – said, "I succeeded in recording 7.46 metres at the Malaysia Games in Sarawak. Based on that, I target to clinch the gold medal at the Rio Paralympics. I only need a correct my jumping technique. Hopefully, I can achieve my target to win the gold medal in Rio and break the world record."

Mohamad Puzi, nicknamed Mr. Dash for his speed, needs no introduction.

Having already captured the collective imagination of the entire nation with his blazing fast performance at the IPC World Athletics Championships in Doha, Puzi created history by winning the 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) gold medal.

At Rio, Puzi represents Malaysia's strongest chance at winning our first Gold.

Zolkefli is a winner who competes in T20 classification shot put events.

He has already represented Malaysia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where he won the bronze medal in the shot put.

A year later, Zolkefli was recognised as the National Paralympian Sportsman of the Year.

In fact, it was his performance at the 2013 World Championships, in which he won his country's only medal of the tournament, that inspired the Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to announce that Paralympians will get the same reward as Olympians for winning medals.

A practicing Muslim, Noor Iasah Mohamad Ariffin is a bronze medalist in the women's 400m T20 (learning problem) event at the IPC Athletics World Championship.

The national elite athlete has also won Gold medal at ASEAN Para Games 2015.

Dubbed as the underdog, Suhaimi is determined to give his best at Rio.

Speaking to Stadium Astro, Suhaimi, who assured that he will not come back empty handed from Rio, said, "I know the countries that will compete like Cuba, Russia and Germany, but I do not regard it as important, I need to show action as possible."

He had brought home the Gold through his performance at the ASIAN Para Games.

Graceful in his run, Nasharuddin gave Malaysia Gold at the 2016 IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championships after he smashed the Asian record in the men's 400m T20.

Not just that, at the two multi-sports events, SEA Games and Asean Para Games, in Myanmar in 2013, Nasharuddin also won three gold medals - for the men’s 100m, 200m and 400m in the T20 category. The latter also broke three meet records in the process.

Back in 2014, when Siti Noor Radiah was ranked number one in Asia, she gave Malaysia its first gold medal of the Incheon Asian Para Games.

After her brilliant performance, National paralympics head coach R. Jeganathan, who once coached the country’s middle and long distance ace M. Ramachandran, had said, "Radiah is still young and can be moulded into a world champion one day. Now my main focus is to prepare her for the Olympics in 2016."

Sprinter Krishna Kumar Hari Das, who swept three gold medals in the men’s sprint – dominating the 100m T38, 200m T38 and 400m T38 events at 8th Asean Para Games in Singapore, is carrying the hopes of millions of Malaysians at Rio Paralympic Games.

The Kedah native, who won the Gold in Men's Long Jump at the 8th ASEAN Para Games 2015, took up the sport at school.

At the conclusion of the 2012 Malaysia Para Games, officially known as the 16th Malaysia Para Games, the Kedahan was announced as Best Sportsman of the games.

Watch them in action, below, at the 2016 Asian Cycling Championships.

Having given Malaysia a Silver medal at the 2016 IPC Powerlifting World Cup, National elite Paralympic athlete Mohd Shamil Saad has been selected for the Rio Paralympics.

Affected by polio, Shamil was named the Paralympic Sportsman of the Year at the 2014 Pahang Sports Awards in Malaysia.

At the IPC Powerlifting World Cup, Jong lifted a personal best of 212kg to win bronze.

While his effort back in February in the men's below 97kg class to capture Malaysia’s first medal in the senior category didn't guarantee him a place in Rio Paralympics, it appears he was qualified for the Paralympic Games on merit.

Mustakim's first event victory came in Asian Paragames 2014.

In the Hansa 2.3, the 31-year-old, after sailing with consistency, won Gold Medal.

The only national swimmer who has been selected to compete at the Rio Paralympics, Jamery will compete in the 50m, 100m S5 freestyle, and 50m butterfly events.

Having already represented Malaysia in the London 2012 Games, the 30-year-old, who took up swimming competitively in 2003, hopes to rewrite his records at Rio.

Bakar has already represented Malaysia in London Paralympics.

At Rio Paralympic Games, there are high hopes with him bringing Malaysia its first Gold.

Rio Paralympics will be Borhan's debut Paralympic Games.