Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, head of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, spoke about the country’s criteria for selecting athletes for the Games in two years’ time after a meeting with the organisation’s 2024 Paris Gold Programme Monitoring Committee.

Malaysia is looking to put together a team that can better its performance from Tokyo 2020 where the nation collected two medals.

"The committee is open to the possibility of identifying athletes based overseas who have family ties and origins from Malaysia with a current performance level that matches those at the world level," said Norza in a report by Malaysia Now.

Should Malaysia take that approach, mixed-parentage footballers including striker Darren Lok and defender Lawrence Corbin Ong, who were both born in England but have represented the Malaysian national team due to family ties could be in the mix for Olympic selection.

Norza said the committee had also agreed to strengthen the requirements for athletes to make the cut for Paris 2024 as Malaysia seeks its first-ever Olympic gold medal in the French capital.

"One of the selection criteria for the 2024 Paris Gold Programme that we discussed is that they must have won a medal in Tokyo 2020 and be ranked among the top 10 in the world," added Norza.

"Their achievements in winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asiad will also be the basis of our selection, as well as having a convincing recent performance.

"The committee will also give attention to the development and effectiveness of several research projects, especially those headed by the National Sports Institute that are aimed at enhancing the performance of athletes under the 2024 Paris Gold Programme."