KUALA LUMPUR – The development of drone sports in Malaysia would require collaboration between the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MoSTI), according to National Sports Institute (NSI) chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli.
Faedzal told The Vibes that the institute’s involvement in drone sports will, however, depend on the government’s allocation of funds to meet its focus and objectives for the sport.
He said, initially, the government would need to consider whether it wants to expand the industry – by organising more events and competitions – or set up the foundation for a drone sports ecosystem that would encompass technical knowledge enhancements, nurturing of talents and soliciting the services of field experts in relation to technology and equipment.
“NSI may not be able to handle drone sports by itself and would require numerous parties to be involved for it to work, including MoSTI and its entities, technology providers as well as event organisers,” Faedzal said.
“We do have connections and networks in the drone ecosystem, which includes drone sports organisers, regulatory bodies as well as educational and innovation programmes relating to drone sports.
“Working together with these entities will build a sustainable ecosystem for drone sports in Malaysia.”
Under the scope of NSI, Faedzal said they may be able to support drone sports in terms of sports science and sports medicine − for example – by helping to improve the hand-eye coordination of drone racers.
“NSI will be able to assess, evaluate and help improve the racers in this area. An acute level of concentration is also required by drone racers during the course of racing. This is related to mental toughness and sports psychology, which is under the expertise of the NSI,” he added.
Former NSI chief executive officer Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz echoed Faedzal’s opinion, suggesting that the Youth and Sports Ministry should look into opportunities to collaborate with other ministries as it had done previously with the Education Ministry.
“We have done this before, where NSI worked with the sports division within the Education Ministry to test talent identification in 2015.
“The funding was mainly given to the Education Ministry. Even though it was allocated for NSI, it was meant to help train teachers to test youngsters in Standard One.
“Only a portion of that funding was given to NSI for developing the testing protocols and the database,” he said.
During the recent tabling of the 2022 Budget, the sports industry was allocated a total of RM5 million to develop the Drone Sports Centre of Excellence.
Not long after, a source within the sports industry told The Vibes that MoSTI had already expressed interest in taking over the allocation from the Youth and Sports Ministry although it was not made official at the time. – The Vibes, December 8, 2021
.jpg)
