KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of visitors thronged the grounds of Raintree Plaza TRX near The Exchange TRX shopping centre on the first day of the Olympic Day 2024 carnival here today.
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary-general Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib said the celebration was being held in the capital city for the first time after being hosted at several other locations previously, including Penang.
“Olympic Day falls on June 23 every year... so this is the first time we are holding it in KL with TRX, where we have organised a programme with the public, featuring 40 booths for them to join in celebrating the Olympics.
“Here, we are promoting Olympic activities and sports, and with roughly 30 days before the national contingent heads to Paris (for the 2024 Olympic Games), we hope this carnival can provide support and encouragement to our contingent heading there,” he said when met by reporters here.
In addition to Raintree Plaza TRX, the celebration, which aims to build excitement ahead of Paris 2024 from July 26 to Aug 11, will also be held at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Tanjung Malim, this Sunday.
Meanwhile, Nazifuddin said the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) is leaving all decisions regarding the selection of athletes for the wildcard quotas for Paris 2024 to the discretion of the respective sports associations.
He mentioned that there are currently three wildcard tickets available: two for swimming events and one for athletics.
Malaysia has the opportunity to increase the number of athletes at the prestigious sporting event if female golfer Ashley Lau manages to rank within the top 60 players in the Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR) before the qualification deadline for Paris 2024 on June 24.
It has also been reported that the Malaysia dive team is waiting to see if it is allocated a ticket under the ‘unused quota’, which depends on the decision of the International Swimming Federation (FINA).
To date, 21 Malaysian athletes have qualified for Paris 2024 in sports including archery, badminton, cycling, diving, golf, sailing, shooting and weightlifting.
The Olympic Day 2024 carnival here will continue until its grand finale this Sunday.
