According to Berita Harian, the contingent will be smallest in 36 years.

It quoted Paris Olympics chef de mission Hamidin Amin as saying the 20-athlete target was “achievable”, with slots in several sports still available for qualification.

These include swimming, weightlifting, badminton, golf, artistic gymnastics, archery, athletics, cycling, table tennis and taekwondo.

“We expect at least 20 athletes to form the final Malaysian contingent to Paris, including through wildcard entries and unused quota places,” said Hamidin, who is also the deputy president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia.

Malaysia sent 30 athletes to the 2020 Tokyo games, 32 to the 2016 Rio Olympics, 29 to London, 32 to Beijing, 26 to Athens, 40 to Sydney, 35 to Atlanta, and 26 to Barcelona.

Currently, only five Malaysians have qualified for the Paris Olympics: Bertrand Rhodict Lises (diving), Nur Shazrin Latif (sailing), Johnathan Wong (shooting), Ariana Nur Dania Zairi (archery) and Nur Aisyah Zubir (road cycling).

Malaysian diving queens Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri failed to earn a ticket to the games, after finishing 12th in the 10m platform synchronised diving event at the World Aquatics Championships last month.

Hamidin said Malaysia’s best shot at its first Olympic gold will come from Azizulhasni Awang and men’s badminton doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, the World No 5 pair, fell at the last hurdle in the All England 2024 men’s doubles final yesterday as Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto defended the title.