Minister hopes Bonnie’s success in Paris Paralympics inspires S’wak’s powerlifters in Para Sukma XXI

KUCHING (Sept 14): Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah is hoping that paralympic powerlifting champion Bonnie Bunyau Gustin’s achievement at the Paris Paralympics will inspire Sarawak’s para powerlifters to achieve success in the coming Para Sukma XXI.

She said Bonnie, who hails from Serian, had started as a para powerlifter participating in Para Sukma and achieved early success there.

Adding on, she said after Para Sukma, Bonnie went on to achieve more success in the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020 and the World Para Powerlifting World Cup in 2021.

“Bonnie’s achievements are by no means ordinary because he has made much sacrifices and undergone much hardships to be what he is today.

“We know that to reach this level, there were a lot of sacrifices, hardships and many people who helped him to develop his talent to the maximum,” Fatimah told reporters after welcoming Bonnie at the Kuching International Airport (KIA) today.

Also present were Bonnie’s father Gustin Jenang, mother Evelyn Gelagar, brothers Brian Junency and Brownson John, and his grandmother Salu Janting.

“What is more important is that to produce a champion like Bonnie, there must be determination, self discipline, dedication, high spirit in oneself and that is the recipe for being a champion,” said Fatimah.

When asked about the additional incentives from the Sarawak government to Bonnie, she said they were still waiting for the announcement of the amount of incentives from the federal government.

“At the last Paralympics in Tokyo, the federal government gave an incentive of RM1 million to Bonnie and Sarawak gave RM500,000.

“We will wait for the federal government first. This incentive is appropriate because this is not common for people to achieve this excellence, especially that Bonnie has put in three times more effort than other athletes,” she said.