PETALING JAYA: It only takes a spark to light a fire and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin hopes he has done enough to motivate the others in the Malaysian contingent.

The newly minted powerlifting gold medallist will be staying back to support the athletes, including teammate Jong Yee Khie, with the hope that they will increase the medal haul as the Games enter the second week.

Bonnie made the nation proud when he lifted three times his body weight to win the 72kg competition on Saturday. En route to the gold, the 22-year-old Sarawakian also set a new Games record with a 228kg lift.

Yee Khie will be up against a strong field in the 107kg competition at Tokyo International Forum today.

The 32-year-old from Kuching has won medals at the last two Commonwealth Games but is hoping to come good in his second Paralympics.

In Rio 2016, Yee Khie finished seventh in the 97kg. He qualified for Tokyo after coming in second behind Russia’s Konstantin Matsnev in the Para Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai in June.

The former hairdresser is ranked fourth in the world based on his silver-medal winning total of 239kg.

Matsnev, who lifted 240kg, is not in Tokyo but Yee Khie still has a daunting task ahead.

Among them is Mongolia’s Enkhbayar Sodnompiljee, the reigning world champion and world record holder with 247kg, and Iranian Saman Razi, who has this year’s best performance with 243kg.

“Yee Khie is my teammate, a fellow Sarawakian and someone I look up to while starting out in the sport. I’m staying back for him,” said Bonnie.

“It’s not the first time that we’ve competed together. We were also at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast) but I didn’t win as I was still new while he won silver (77kg).

“I know he can achieve something for Malaysia. It is not impossible as it’s one’s performance on competition day that matters,” added Bonnie, whose win has eased the pressure on the Malaysian athletes as they need to find two more to meet a three-gold target.

Malaysia are hoping to strike gold in athletics through Mohd Ridzuan Puzi, Mohd Ziyad Zolkefli and Abdul Latif Romly when they begin their title defence this week.

Ziyad is competing tomorrow in the men’s shot putt F20 while Ridzuan will run in the 100m T36 heats on Friday. Abdul Latif gets his turn in the men’s long jump T20 on Saturday.

The other hopefuls are shuttler Cheah Liek Hou and archer S. Suresh.