2016 Malaysian Paralympiad

Host city

Sarawak as the host of the 2016 Malaysia Para Games

Sarawak was chosen to host the 18th Malaysian Paralympiad after it was chosen to host the 2016 Sukma Games in 2013. Previously, Sarawak had hosted the 1996 Malaysian Paralympiad where it emerged as overall champion.

Development and Preparation

The Sarawak Sukma Games Organising Committee, which is also the organising committee for the 18th Malaysian Paralympiad was formed to oversee the staging of the event.

Venues

Sarawak Stadium, venue of the athletics event for the 18th Malaysia Para Games.

The 2016 Malaysian Paralympiad used a mix of new and existing venues. Most venues were existing public-sporting facilities, while others were newly constructed venues. Some retrofitting work were done in venues which are more than a decade old. They were reverted to public use after the games and some had been used to host multi-disciplinary events such as the 1990 Sukma Games and the 2016 Sukma Games.

At the centrepiece of the activities was the upgraded Petra Jaya Sports Complex. Incorporating the 40,000-seat Sarawak Stadium, it hosts most of the events. A games village was not built, instead athletes and officials were housed in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak which was chosen to be the official games village. Besides being physically near to the competition venues, it was hoped that it will add vibe to the host cities and reduce post-games costs in converting a dedicated games village to other uses.

The 18th Malaysian Paralympiad had 9 venues for the games, 5 in Kuching and 4 in Samarahan.

Volunteers

The organisers estimated that about 1000 volunteers are needed to successfully host the games.

Public transport

Shuttle bus services, Rapid KL Buses were provided throughout the games and were used to ferry athletes and officials to and from the airport, games venues and games village.^[5]

Motto

Similar to the 2016 Sukma Games, the motto of the 2016 Malaysian Paralympiad is "Unity in diversity". It represents the unity of the athletes from the 14 states of Malaysia and Brunei, technical officers, assisting staffs and volunteers of the games of different races and backgrounds including the disabled.

Logo

'Satria' and 'Satrina', the official mascot of the games.

The logo of the 2016 Malaysian Paralympiad is an image depicting three human-like figures standing together within the two circles in an upward motion which represents the unity among the people from different races and background and unity of athletes including disabled athletes for success as in the slogan, "Unity in Diversity" and the celebration for successful athletes.

Mascot

Similar to the 2016 Sukma Games, the official mascots of the 2016 Malaysian Paralympiad is a pair of hornbills named Satria (male) and Satrina (female) respectively. It is said that Sarawak is known by many as "Bumi Kenyalang" or the "Land of the Hornbills". The mascots were designed in 3D to give them a more realistic appeal. Designers of the mascot costume took into account the ergonomics of the mascot as to not bring discomfort to the wearer. The mascots wears the Sarawak flag and all in all symbolizes the state of Sarawak. These mascots were designed by Amir Hassan Mohd Shah,^[6] and are the first ever Malaysia Para Games mascots in history to depict both male and female mascots.

Songs

A theme song of the games was released along with the logo of the games on 15 May 2016.^[7]

Opening ceremony

Opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony was held on Saturday, 6 August 2016, beginning at 14:30 MST (UTC+8) at the Petra Jaya Unity Stadium. The ceremony begins with the arrival of guest of honour including Douglas Uggah Embas the deputy chief minister of Sarawak, former prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi and his wife and Paralympic Council patron Tun Jeanne Abdullah, the playing of the national anthem of Malaysia and the state anthem of Sarawak. This was followed by an opener performance by disabled dancers. Later, a parade of athletes led by the games volunteers was held, began with the state of Pahang and followed by other states of Malaysia with host Sarawak enters the stadium last. After state Welfare, Women and Community minister Fatimah Abdullah gave her speech, Douglas Uggah Embas, the deputy chief minister of Sarawak gave his speech, declared the games opened and initiated the lighting of the flame animation on the cauldron. After the cauldron was lit, the games flag was raised by Royal Malaysian navy personnel, followed by playing of the games' theme song. This was followed by pledge recitation and dance perfornance by Kuching students with the theme "Unity in Diversity". The ceremony concludes with a series of cultural dances and performance.^[8][9][10]

Closing ceremony

Closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony was held on Wednesday, 10 August 2016, beginning at 20:30 MST (UTC+8) at the Petra Jaya Unity Stadium. The ceremony begins with the arrival of the guest of honour, the parade of athletes into the stadium, the playing of the national anthem of Malaysia and the state anthem of Sarawak. This was followed by a series of cultural performance featuring Sarawak main races. After Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Fatimah Abdullah gave her speech, Khairy Jamaluddin the sports minister of Malaysia gave his speech and officially declared the games closed. Later, Yoong Chung Wei of swimming from Penang and Lim Carmen of swimming from Selangor were announced as best sportsman and best sportswoman respectively. Sarawak was also announced as the overall champion of the games. After the games flag lowered by Royal Malaysian Navy personnel and the cauldron extinguished, the Malaysia Para Games responsibility was handed over to Perak, host of the 2018 Malaysian Paralympiad where the sports minister of Perak Abdul Rahim received the flag as its symbolisation. A Perak segment performance was later performed by Perak dancers. The ceremony concludes with a series of cultural dances and performance.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Participating states

An estimated total of 1407 athletes from 13 states and 2 Federal Territories competed at the 2016 Malaysia Para Games. The number of athletes competed for each state is shown in parenthesis.^[8]

Sports

The Sarawak Sukma Games Organising Committee had confirmed a total of 9 sports for the 2016 Malaysian Paralympiad. The announcement took place after the sports were endorsed at the press conference of the 2016 Sukma Games in Baitul Makmur, Petra Jaya.

Calendar

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Gold medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

August	6 Sat	7 Sun	8 Mon	9 Tue	10 Wed	Events
Ceremonies	OC				CC
Archery		4	4	3		11
Athletics	7	35	26	30	29	127
Badminton	4	●	2	●	5	11
Bowling		18	13	8		39
Chess		●	8	●	8	16
Lawn bowls	●	3	●	●	7	10
Powerlifting		2	4	6		12
Swimming			19	27	29	75
Table tennis		7	9	5	4	25
Daily medal events	11	69	85	79	82	326
Cumulative total	11	80	165	244	326
August	6 Sat	7 Sun	8 Mon	9 Tue	10 Wed	Total events

Medal table

A total of 893 medals, comprising 326 gold medals, 287 silver medals and 280 bronze medals were awarded to athletes. The host Sarawak's performance was their best ever yet, and emerged as overall champion of the games.^[20]

  *   Host nation (Sarawak)

2016 Malaysian Paralympiad medal table

Rank	State	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sarawak (SAR)*	84	63	73	220
2	Johor (JOH)	35	25	15	75
3	Terengganu (TER)	30	24	19	73
4	Sabah (SAB)	25	23	26	74
5	Penang (PEN)	23	10	19	52
6	Perlis (PER)	22	6	8	36
7	Federal Territory (WIL)	19	31	31	81
8	Kedah (KED)	16	19	13	48
9	Selangor (SEL)	16	15	17	48
10	Kelantan (KEL)	15	12	14	41
11	Malacca (MEL)	14	17	13	44
12	Perak (PRK)	12	17	15	44
13	Negeri Sembilan (NSE)	8	13	7	28
14	Pahang (PAH)	7	10	7	24
15	Labuan (LBN)	0	2	3	5
Totals (15 states)		326	287	280	893