KUALA LUMPUR – The Youth and Sports Ministry has received sufficient allocation to drive its efforts towards winning a gold medal at the Olympics in Paris 2024, said its minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.
He told Dewan Rakyat that even though the allocation for the Podium Programme for high-performance athletes was stopped in Budget 2022, he had raised the issue and had received sufficient allocation to continue it for the next four years.
“This is enough for us to achieve our hopes of a first gold at the Olympics in Paris (2024),” he said.
He said that a total of 144 athletes were dropped from the programme when the allocation was cancelled, but the problem was resolved early this year.
He said this when answering R. S. N. Rayer (Jelutong–PH) who asked why the government would have funds for the coming election but not for Malaysian athletes.
Rayer urged the ministry to guarantee an additional allocation will be provided to the National Sports Council for Malaysian athletes who are competing overseas.
He said each time the national athletes are to compete in other countries, they have to plead for funds from non-government organisations and others, as the government’s allocation is insufficient.
However, Faizal said that this is an old issue and he has since fought for enough funds. – The Vibes, October 5, 2022.
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