Not to be forgotten
Windfall for Paralympic coaches
PETALING JAYA: The three coaches in charge of the athletics squad for the Rio Paralympics are in for a windfall.
The three coaches – R. Jaganathan, Mohd Faizol Harun and Mohd Syahrul Amri Suhaimi – are set to collect a cool sum of RM200,000 each for guiding their proteges to historic gold medal feats.
Under the National Sports Council incentive scheme, a gold is worth RM1mil while silver and bronze will see the athletes taking home RM300,000 and RM100,000.
The athlete also receive a monthly allowance of RM5,000 for life for a gold. Silver (RM3,000) and bronze (RM2,000).
A coach is entitled to 20% of the amount given to the gold medallists.
The money is paid separately under the National Sports Council (NSC) incentive scheme.
Jaganathan handled sprinter Mohd Ridzuan Mohd Puzi to clinch Malaysia’s first-ever gold at the Paralympics in the T36 (cerebral palsy) 100m.
Faizol was in charge of Ziyad Zolkefli who smashed the world record twice en route to winning the F20 (intellectual disability) shot putt.
Syahrul guided Mohd Latif Romly to break the world record three times on his way to Malaysia’s third gold medal in the T20 (intellectual disability) long jump.
Syahrul will collect another RM20,000 as he is also the coach for Siti Noor Radiah, who set a new Asian record in taking the bronze in the T20 long jump final on Thursday.
NSC director for Paralympic programme Mohd Safrushahar Yusoff is happy that the Podium Programme is bearing fruit.
“The athletes who bagged medals in Rio comes from the Podium Programme and I’m happy to see them perform beyond expectations,” said Mohd Safrushahar.
"This is the best ever achievement at the Paralympics since we started the high performance programme for disabled athletes in 2007”.
The athletics squad wrapped up their campaign on Friday with Krishna Kumar Hari Das finishing fourth in the T38 (cerebral palsy) 400m event with a season best time of 59.07.