Solo, Antara Jateng - Indonesia will send eight athletes to participate in the Paralympics Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to be held from September 7-18.

"The National Paralympics Committee (NPC) Indonesia will send eight athletes, double the number it sent to Paralympic Games 2012 in London," NPC's coordinator for performance development, Waluyo, said during an iftar dinner with media persons here on Wednesday.

He informed that eight NPC Indonesia athletes would participate in four of the 29 sports in the Paralympic Games.

"NPC Indonesia athletes will compete in athletic, weight lifting, table tennis and swimming," he stated.

Waluyo disclosed that NPC Indonesia will send Setyo Budi Hartanto to compete in the long jump and 100-meter sprint events while Abdul Halim and Alan will compete in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprint.

Ni Nengah Widyasih and Siti Mahmudah will compete in the 40-kg and 60-kg weightlifting events respectively.

"For the swimming event, we will send Jendri Panggabean, Agus Hermin, Polipus and Suci. They have all passed the qualification stage," he added.

NPC Indonesia, meanwhile, will field David Yakop in table tennis and he is expected to bring a medal.

"David Yakop won a silver medal at the London Paralympics Games in the men's single event while the gold medal went to a Chinese player," he recalled.

Waluyo mentioned that all the athletes have been participating in the training center program in Solo since January.

"They have taken part in the qualification stages before they are sent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There has been an improvement when it comes to the number of athletes passing the qualification test," he assured.

Waluyo hoped that the next Paralympic Games 2020 to be held in Japan will feature badminton, NPC's seeded sport branch, as it would give an opportunity to Indonesia to win a gold medal.

"Badminton is not featured in the Paralympic Games in Brazil," he noted.