Hannah Yeoh: Sports Ministry shortlists 15 athletes for Paris 2024, more may be added to list
PUTRAJAYA, April 7 — The Youth and Sports Ministry said today it has shortlisted 15 athletes for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris 2024.
Its minister Hannah Yeoh said the athletes were chosen because they had attained medals at Tokyo 2020 while others were ranked in the top 10 of their respective sports.
“Apart from that we will also consider those who are performing well from now until the qualifying period ends so they too can participate in Paris,” Yeoh told a press conference in her ministry here.
“We will monitor all potential Olympians and we have three excellent coordinators in squash legend Datuk Nicol David, badminton ace Datuk Lee Chong Wei and hockey's Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi to assist us.
“They will meet with RTG athletes and potential ones including with their trainers and coaches to get feedback on their needs and to also get their agreement to commit to the RTG programme,” she added, referring to the Road to Gold project for the tournament.
Those on the list are: Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom (cycling Keirin, Sprint, Team Sprint), badminton Lee Zii Jia (badminton men's singles), Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (badminton men's doubles), Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (badminton women's doubles), Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai (badminton mixed doubles) and Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Nur Dhabitah Sabri (swimming 3m, 10m and synchronised diving).
“In addition, we have also decided not to follow other countries in boycotting the Paris Olympics. We will not mix politics with sports,” Yeoh said.
This comes as over 40 countries condemned the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete amid the Ukrainian invasion, and planned a possible boycott of Paris 2024.
Yeoh said more athletes could join this initial list as they are open to supporting all sports with the potential to medal including minority sports.
The Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 until August 12 next year.
