According to a report by Bernama, Yeoh said there is an allocation in the 2025 budget for paralympic athlete development, to ensure there is no dearth of new talents for future games.

She said athlete development funds will not be disbursed directly to the Paralympic Council of Malaysia.

“If PCM wants to carry out (athlete development), they must find their own funds and not rely on the government to give them money.

“The government will also not give any money to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (for athlete development),” she said when met at the flagging-off ceremony for the Walk for Health 2km Programme and Fight Against Cancer Campaign here today.

Previously, PCM president Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin expressed hope that the ministry would consider providing it an allocation of RM15 million.

He said the allocation, to be distributed to the 25 national paralympic sports associations, would be used for the development of athletes not under the NSC’s programme, especially those who are being trained at the grassroots level.

Tabling the 2025 budget on Friday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said more than RM230 million will be allocated for the development of sports in the country, including for podium programmes, training, the Road to Gold project and preparations for para athletes for international events, such as the 2025 Deaflympics in Tokyo.