Russia's loss is Singapore's gain, or to be specific, Muhammad Diroy Noordin's.

The Singaporean was yesterday announced as the 13th athlete in the Republic's contingent for next month's Paralympics. He was awarded a spot after Russia was banned from the Rio Games on charges of state-sponsored doping.

With one additional male slot in athletics following the blanket ban on Russia, it was decided that Diroy would join the squad, representing the nation in the men's shot put F40 and javelin F41 events.

"It had always been my dream to participate in the Paralympics, and I'm glad to be given the opportunity to represent Singapore," said Diroy, who has dwarfism.

Diroy had actually met the Rio Paralympics 'A' qualification mark in the men's F40 shot put when he threw 7.78m at the 4th China Open Athletics Championships in April. But he lost out on the initial selection for the Games when the sole male slot went to long jumper Suhairi Suhani.

Singapore will now have a total of 13 athletes competing across six sports: archery, athletics, boccia, equestrian, sailing and swimming.

Said Diroy: "I'm elated to be part of the Team Singapore contingent and will do my best to make everyone proud."

Nicola Chew