Chew Wei Lun's silver medal win at the Tokyo Paralympics has inspired Malaysian participants ahead of the Asian Youth Para Games (AYPG) in Bahrain on Dec 2-6.
"I believe Wei Lun's achievement has spurred our young athletes. He has become something of an idol that the younger athletes can look to emulate. Bahrain provides them a good platform to show what they got and achieve some good results," said national boccia coach Aiman Hafizi Abu Bakar.
He said no targets have been set for Iman Haikal Saifulifram (individual BC2) and Angeline Melissa Lawas (individual BC1) in Manama.
That, however, does not mean they will not be pushing for honours in the Asian meet.
"As we have not competed for two years (at youth level), we have decided not to set any targets because we do not want to pressure them," said Aiman.
"But every time we represent Malaysia, we will always give it our best shot and try to do the nation proud.
"Wei Lun's performance in Tokyo was unexpected as we had not set any targets, going into the competition.
"When he returned with success (medal), it put boccia in the spotlight, and our goal is to keep improving on our achievements in the sport."
Haikal is under the national programme while Angeline comes under Sarawak's state development programme.
In Tokyo, Wei Lun raised eyebrows with his unexpected run to the final of the mixed individual BC1 event. He briefly led 2-0 in the final but eventually lost 4-2 to the more experienced David Smith of Britain who was also the defending champion.