Malaysia at the Paralympic Games: Governance and Athletes

When Cheah Liek Hou defended his SU5 badminton gold at Paris 2024, the triumph confirmed that Malaysian para sport now has a more solid line-up of champions, no longer just an occasional achievement. Behind that moment lies a distinct governance structure, separate from the more famous Olympic world.

Who governs para sport in Malaysia?

The governing body for high-performance para sport in Malaysia is the Paralympic Council Malaysia (PCM), or in Malay, Majlis Paralimpik Malaysia. It serves as Malaysia’s National Paralympic Committee (NPC) — the sole recognised body to represent the country at the Paralympic Games and affiliated with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as well as the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC).

According to the official PCM website, the roots of this movement began in the early 1970s when the founder of the Persatuan Orang-Orang Cacat Anggota Malaysia (POCAM), the late H.R.M. Storey, sent a team of Malaysian athletes to take part in the Stoke Mandeville Games in the United Kingdom. The first formal organisation, the Majlis Sukan Orang Cacat Malaysia, was registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on 18 May 1989.

The body’s name and status then changed several times:

• 1996 — renamed the Malaysian Paralympic Council / Majlis Paralimpik Malaysia.
• Later — rebranded as the Paralympic Council Malaysia (PCM), with registration transferred from the ROS to the Commissioner of Sports Malaysia in line with the requirements of the Sports Development Act 1997.

How does PCM differ from the Olympic Council of Malaysia?

This is a common confusion. The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) is the country’s National Olympic Committee — it manages athletes’ participation in the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the SEA Games. PCM, meanwhile, is an entirely separate body that manages the Paralympic pathway: the Paralympic Games, the Asian Para Games and the ASEAN Para Games.

The two are distinct organisations, each with its own leadership, membership and international affiliation. OCM is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC); PCM is affiliated with the IPC. What they have in common is that both operate within the framework of the Sports Development Act 1997 and work with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Council on athlete development.

PCM is also more than just a contingent sender. According to its official website, it hosted the inaugural ASEAN Para Games in 2001, and again in 2009 and 2017. In terms of leadership, Dato’ Sri Megat D. Shahriman is the PCM President, elected in December 2019 and re-elected in December 2024.

What does Malaysia’s Paralympic medal record look like?

Malaysia has taken part in the Paralympic movement since the 1970s, but medal success came more slowly. According to the official IPC database, the earliest Paralympic medal on the nation’s record is a bronze at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. The major turning point came at Rio 2016 when Malaysia won its first Paralympic gold.

Up to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the official IPC record shows Malaysia has accumulated 17 medals in total. The table below breaks down that total by Games edition:

Paralympic Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Beijing 2008	0	0	1	1
London 2012	0	1	1	2
Rio 2016	3	0	1	4
Tokyo 2020	3	2	0	5
Paris 2024	2	2	1	5
Total	8	5	4	17

All eight golds came from just three sports — athletics, badminton and powerlifting — with athletics contributing the most.

Who are Malaysia’s Paralympic gold medallists?

Malaysia’s eight Paralympic gold medals came from five athletes across three Games editions. The following table lists each gold:

Games	Athlete	Event	Note
Rio 2016	Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi	100m T36	Malaysia’s first Paralympic gold across all sports (12.07, Paralympic record; 10 Sept 2016)
Rio 2016	Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli	Shot put F20	Athletics gold; world record at the time 16.84m
Rio 2016	Abdul Latif Romly	Long jump T20	Athletics gold; world record 7.60m
Tokyo 2020	Abdul Latif Romly	Long jump T20	Second consecutive gold
Tokyo 2020	Cheah Liek Hou	Badminton SU5	Malaysia’s first para badminton gold
Tokyo 2020	Bonnie Bunyau Gustin	Powerlifting up to 72kg	First gold
Paris 2024	Cheah Liek Hou	Badminton SU5	Defended his title; beat Suryo Nugroho (Indonesia) 21-13, 21-15
Paris 2024	Bonnie Bunyau Gustin	Powerlifting up to 72kg	World record 232kg

Several moments stand out from this list:

• Rio 2016 was Malaysia’s big breakthrough. After years without gold, the nation took three golds in athletics through Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi, Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli and Abdul Latif Romly. Ridzuan Puzi recorded Malaysia’s first Paralympic gold across all sports when he won the 100m T36 on 10 September 2016; Ziyad Zolkefli followed about an hour later with the shot put F20 (16.84m, world record at the time), before Latif Romly completed the trio of golds with the long jump T20 (7.60m, world record) on 11 September.
• Cheah Liek Hou became a Paralympic badminton gold medallist when he defended his Tokyo 2020 title in the SU5 category at Paris 2024, beating Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho 21-13, 21-15 to claim Malaysia’s first gold at the Paris 2024 Games.
• Bonnie Bunyau Gustin, an athlete from Sarawak, lifted 232kg in the up-to-72kg category at Paris 2024 — more than three times his body weight — to break the world record while defending his powerlifting gold. This figure was confirmed by the International Paralympic Committee.

Malaysia has also recorded important non-gold successes. Chew Wei Lun became the nation’s first Paralympic boccia medallist when he won silver in the individual BC1 category at Tokyo 2020, losing to Great Britain’s David Smith 4-2 in the final. That achievement introduced the sport of boccia to a wider Malaysian audience.

What categories and sports does Malaysia compete in?

Para sport uses a classification system to ensure fair competition between athletes with comparable levels of impairment. Codes such as T36 (track athletics, cerebral impairment), T20/F20 (intellectual impairment) and SU5 (badminton, upper limb impairment) denote an athlete’s classification group, not merely the event.

Malaysia’s contingent typically competes across several major Paralympic sports, including athletics, badminton, powerlifting, boccia, archery and swimming. However, as far as the medal record goes, the gold contribution comes from just three sports: athletics, powerlifting and badminton.

What’s next

PCM’s focus is now shifting to broadening the talent pool beyond the existing line-up of champions. One major milestone has already been set: Malaysia is confirmed as host of the 14th ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur in October 2027 (18 sports), after the flag of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) was handed to Malaysia at the closing ceremony of the 13th ASEAN Para Games 2025 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

PCM’s headquarters is located at the Malaysian Paralympic Sports Centre of Excellence, Jalan Perwira, Kampung Pandan, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. For readers who want the latest information, the most authoritative sources are the official Paralympic Council Malaysia website and the IPC database. This article will be updated as the results of the next Paralympic Games and ASEAN Para Games become available.