Coach: Chew paves the Wei for boccia’s popularity

New target: Chew Wei Lun will try to qualify for the World Boccia Championships next year. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Boccia coach Aiman Hafizi Abu Bakar sees Chew Wei Lun’s unexpected success at the Tokyo Paralympics as an eye-opener to all Malaysians on the sport’s potential, especially to the cerebral palsy group.

Wei Lun, who made history by becoming the first Malaysian athlete to compete in boccia on the Paralympic stage, lost 2-4 to defending champion David Smith of Britain in the mixed individual BC1 final at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Wednesday.

Wei Lun had recorded six consecutive wins, including four in group B, before he was defeated by the current world No. 1 Smith.

The 26-year-old from Johor also had the satisfaction of beating the Asian Para Games gold medallist and world No. 2 Witsanu Huadpradit of Thailand for the first time.

“I’m grateful for what Wei Lun has achieved here in Tokyo. It’s the best promotion for the sport. Now everyone in Malaysia know what boccia is. It has been a Paralympic sport for some time (since 1984) but with Wei Lun showing the way, I think more can be done to get people to pick up this sport, especially for families who have cerebral palsy children,” said Aiman, who started coaching Wei Lun in 2019.

Aiman said there was no medal expectations on Wei Lun coming into Tokyo but the focus was to promote the sport to Malaysians back home.

“Our aim was to reach the quarter-final as that would have been a good achievement considering the top 20 players gathered for Paralympics. Wei Lun is ranked 11th but he managed to surpass the expectations.”

Aiman, who first got to know Wei Lun during the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Para SEA Games, said it was important to have good chemistry between the coach and athlete in boccia.

“I draw a strict line between Wei Lun and myself. During training, I am your coach but we are just friends after training,” he said.

“Our next target is to try and qualify for the World Boccia Championships next year. Malaysia have never qualified to the world event before.”