Brenda edges closer to a Paralympics debut
Published on: Wednesday, September 18, 2019
By: GL Oh
Brenda (left) with Eva at the World Championship in London.
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s Brenda Anellia Larry took a giant step closer to representing the country in the Tokyo Paralympics next year after making the qualifying mark at the World Para Swimming Championship in London over the weekend.Her time of 58.12 seconds in the S4 50m backstroke event, that may enable her to make her debut in the Tokyo Games was achieved in the heat, where she came third.
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She was unable to improve the time further in the final and managed 1.00.68s to finish in seventh place.
National Sports Council’s Head of the Water Sports and Skills, Paralympics Division, Jennifer Yong when contacted on Monday confirmed that the SMK Taman Tun Fuad student, who was accompanied by coach Eva Wong for the meet, had made the mark with the time.
However, her fate to compete in the Tokyo Games will depend on the final decision to be made by the world body later in the year.
“Brenda has indeed achieved the qualifying mark with her time of 58.12s. However, the official final list of those qualified for Tokyo 2020 will only be published by the world body on December 31.
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“At the moment, she is the first Para swimmer in the country to pass the qualifying time and will be the first ever Malaysian woman to compete in the Paralympics Para swimming event if she is listed,” she said.
According to Yong, Brenda was first spotted at her Bakat Programme in 2017.
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“She was discovered when I did the programme back in 2017, and since then she has been training under the State back-up programme with Coach Eva Wong.”
Brenda, who had won the most golds with eight at the Malaysia Open Para Swimming Championship held in Pahang in March, is a also a potential medal winner at the Asean Para Games in Philippines next year, she added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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