The competition, being held on November 3-7 at the Titiwangsa Stadium, will be the athletes' last major stop off before the all important IPC World Championships in Dubai next April, 5-11.

The event in Kuala Lumpur will not only give competitors the chance to be crowned champions of their particular weight divisions, it will also give them an opportunity to achieve the Minimum Qualifying Standard for next year's World Championships.

Chairman of the local organising committee for the event Kassim Abdul Rahman wished the athletes the best of luck coming into the Championships.

"These Championships are a platform for all IPC Powerlifting athletes to prove their capabilities and make way for themselves to qualify for the IPC Powerlifting World Championships next year," he said.

"I hope that all athletes participating will be able to have good performances, achieve good results, and finally qualify to participate in the World Championships.

"These Championships are not only a competition in itself, but also provide a setting in which athletes and officials can gather to strengthen the sport of IPC Powerlifting."

China's Liu Lei will be hoping to continue his domination of the sport after his gold in the -67.5kg event at London 2012


The Championships were originally meant to be held in Gwangju, South Korea, host of the 2015 Summer Universiade, however, the local organising committee had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances.

Among the athletes travelling to Malaysia is China's world champion and London 2012 Paralympic gold medallist Liu Lei.

The 25-year-old will be hoping to continue his domination of the sport, in which he held the world record for the under 67.5kg event before the weight categories were changed following extensive reviews of the system after London 2012, in the build up to Rio 2016.

His teammate, and fellow Paralympic champion, Qi Feng will be hoping to do one better than his silver medal at the World Championships last year as he competes in the under 54kg category for the first time.

The Championships will also see the debut of the "Say No! To Doping - Raise the Bar" campaign, which looks to tackle doping within the sport by educating athletes and teams.

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