Wheelchair basketball team hope to improve on previous result

Improved lot: Coach Lim Ming Lip (centre) with his players ready for action in Glasgow. — Lim Ming Lip Facebook

PETALING JAYA: The national wheelchair basketball team are keeping expectations in check at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, but are quietly determined to better their fourth-place finish from the previous edition in Birmingham in 2022.

Malaysia will start their campaign today against Wales, followed by Scotland tomorrow, and South Africa on Monday.

Head coach Lim Ming Lip however insists the focus remains on giving their best rather than chasing results.

“The contingent have not set a target for us. But the association and the team hope to do better than what we got at the last edition,” said Ming Lip.

“We want to try to make the semi-finals; getting bronze or even making the final would be a massive bonus even with minimal preparation.”

Ming Lip added that they were not part of the National Sports Council (NSC) core sport programme, and that had made it challenging for them to secure funding and executing long-term training plans.

“Our training time can be limited due to that. We mainly practise on the weekends, and even then it’s just among ourselves. But even with that, we have been improving.”

The team this year comprise Atib Zakaria, Freday Tan, and Roozaimi Johari, who were part of the 2022 squad, as well as Hafiz Ramli.

Malaysia had reached the semi-finals in 2022, but fell 14-9 to Canada, before England beat them 21-11 to snatch the bronze medal.

This time, Malaysia are in Group B with hosts Scotland, South Africa, and Wales.

“South Africa shouldn’t be a big problem for us, but we need to be wary of Scotland and Wales,” said Ming Lip.

“If we get past the group stage, then it will still be tough because the other group has strong teams such as defending champions Australia, runners-up Canada, and third-place finishers England,” he added.