NO LOFTY TARGETS FOR DUO IN DUBAI WORLD PARA ATHLETICS GRAND PRIX

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Paris 2024 Paralympians Eddy Bernard and Muhammad Ammar Aiman Nor Azmi have not been set any lofty targets for the 2025 Dubai World Para Athletics Grand Prix Championships.

Their coach, Hamberi Mahat, said the four-day Dubai championships from today will be their first outing since the 2024 Paris Paralympics, which saw Eddy clinch bronze in the men's 100-metre (m) T44 (physical impairment) event and Muhammad Ammar Aiman finish fourth in the men's 400m T20 (intellectual impairment) category last September.

"They are still not in the competition mode yet but we are sending them to protect their ranking.

"I feel that they won't be able to achieve the kind of heights they reached in Paris 2024 because they are far from ready to perform at the highest level,” he told Bernama.

As such, Hamberi hopes Eddy can achieve the targeted time of 11.90 seconds (s) and Muhammad Ammar Aiman 49.00s at the championships, which will be held at the athletics track of the Dubai Club for People of Determination sports complex.

Although the times set are nowhere new their personal bests (Eddy's 11.58s and Muhammad Ammar Aiman's 47.43s), which are Asian records that they set in Paris 2024, Hamberi said the targets they have set for the duo are reasonable considering they have not been competitive for some time.

Eddy is scheduled to be in action tomorrow (Feb 11) and Muhammad Ammar Aiman on Wednesday (Feb 12).

Hamberi said the championships in Dubai would also be the best platform for the duo to gear up for the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi from Sept 26-Oct 5.

-- BERNAMA