A blind bowler steps up to the lane, aligns himself against a railing, fixes his stance and releases the ball on angles he has long committed to muscle memory.
For Mohd Suhairi Abd Kadir, that is how every frame begins.
The 47-year-old masseur who has been blind since birth said the railing guides him into position and the rest comes from repetition and feel.
“I have trained and I know my angles,” he said.
There is no second glance down the lane and no last- minute adjustment – just a clean release built on years of practice.
That discipline paid off at the 13th Asean Para Games in Thailand last year where the Penangite won gold in the doubles and silver in the singles.
It was his second gold after his feat in 2009.
“It is nice to win one again. I am grateful for the funds as it will go towards my training,” said the father of two who received RM3,000 under Penang government’s sports victory incentive scheme 2025.
Mohd Suhairi said he trains weekly whenever he can, balancing sport with his work, and is now preparing for the next international tournament early next year.
“I was born visually impaired but never let it get in my way,” he said.
Fellow para athlete Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais, 28, competes under different conditions.
Partially blind, she rides as a tandem cyclist, paired with a pilot rider who steers and controls the bike.
“I can see up to a metre or two but my vision is blurred,” she said.
Nur Azlia, who won two gold medals in women’s cycling at the Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, some 250km from Bangkok, said she trained twice a day as a full-time athlete.
“I have always enjoyed sports. In 2017, my coach encouraged me to pursue cycling professionally,” said Nur Azlia, who received RM9,000.
Penang sports committee chairman Daniel Gooi said 121 athletes received incentives.
The ceremony also presented funds under the Penang Athlete Career and Education programme and appointment letter of the Malaysia SEA Games 2027 (Penang cluster) main organising committee.
Gooi said the awards were to acknowledge the athletes’ dedication and achievements.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state’s sports development efforts under the Penang2030 vision were showing steady progress.
“All these achievements by local talents show that sports has become a way of life,” he said.
