Dubai, July 16 : India's Paralympics medallist Deepa Malik has been appointed as South Asia regional representative, taking the number of women on the Executive Board of Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) to five for the first time.

The appointment of Deepa Malik, a former president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) was approved during the APC Executive Board meeting in Dubai on Tuesday

On the occasion, Kazuhiro Yagi was named as the new Vice-President of the APC at the 34th Executive Board meeting as 26 nominees from across Asia were approved as members of APC Standing Committees.

Yagi was the nominated representative of AINAGOC, the organising Committee of the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Para Games. He is deputy secretary general at AINAGOC and was the deputy executive of the sports bureau of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee.

APC president Majid Rashed welcomed him saying; 'We are delighted and honoured to welcome him to our Board. His experience will add greatly to our preparations for the 2026 Asian Para Games and ensure close ties with the organising committee.'

Deepa Malik, who in 2016 became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games, was appointed as the sub-regional representative for South Asia. She will take up her post immediately and brings the number of females on the APC Executive Board to five, which is the largest number of female representatives ever on the APC Board.

President Rashed commented; 'A strong board is diverse and should represent the population. Whilst we are not quite at parity between males and females, having another strong female voice during our meetings is a very positive step forward, especially when that voice is someone with the experience, skills and wisdom of Dr. Deepa Malik.'

New members to three of the five APC Standing Committees were approved. The Games and Sport Development Committee which is responsible for supervising and supporting the organisation and delivery of the Asian Para Games, is chaired by Nasanbat Oyunbat from Mongolia. She will be joined by Ali Almajed from Bahrain, who will act as Vice-Chair, and five other representatives from the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, China, I.R. Iran and Oman.

The Medical and Sports Science Committee, chaired by Prof. Jalil Koohpayehzadeh Esfahani from I.R. Iran, has four sub-committees, all of which have chairpersons. These are:

Anti-doping Sub Committee Chair: Badrul Amini b Abd Rashid (MAS)

Classification Sub Committee Chair: Seunghoon HAN (KOR)

Medical Sub Committee Chair: AOKI Takaaki (JPN)

Sports Science Sub Committee Chair: Jooyeon JIN (KOR)

The Women in Sport Committee, chaired by Mu Ming-Chu from Chinese Taipei, has added Ms. Aishath Nazhath from Maldives as Vice Chair. The Committee was established to provide advice to the APC on the development of sports for women and girls at all levels of Paralympic sport and the Paralympic Movement in Asia. It aims at creating awareness about gender equality and at the constant inclusion of women in sports in Asia to increase participation. An additional five members make up this committee.

Speaking on the appointments, APC president Majid Rashed said; 'I am delighted to welcome the new committee members to the APC. The Standing Committees do vital work in supporting the development and growth of para sport in Asia and we are fortunate that so many talented people have put themselves forward to help with this. I wish all the committees, the very best as they prepare to support our Vision and Mission over the next four years.

In other business during the meeting, the Board, who were elected at the General Assembly in Riyadh in November, spent time reviewing the vision, mission and values together with a SWOT analysis as part of preparing the next APC strategic plan.

/IANS