KUALA LUMPUR − Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria says he does not agree with the National Sports Council’s (MSN) new stipulation regarding the position of athletes in its full-time training programme starting next year.
He said the parties involved should look at all aspects holistically besides prioritising the process of rebuilding the country’s sports following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It (the stipulation) needs to be reviewed and the study must give an opportunity to all existing athletes (under the Podium Programme) to come back and compete following the pandemic crisis," he told Bernama.
He was commenting on MSN’s recent decision to set achievements at the highest tournaments since 2019 as the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for athletes to remain in the MSN-run training programme in 2022.
The stricter stipulation is a move by the MSN after facing the reality that there is no specific provision to continue with the Podium Programme after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games.
It thus deduced that only 288 truly eligible athletes would be retained for full-time training programmes ahead of next year’s three major games, namely the Hanoi SEA Games in Vietnam; the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom; and the Asian Games and Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China.
“If we talk about the achievements, we did not have any achievements in the previous year (2020) due to the pandemic so the benchmarking is actually not there yet,” he said, describing the achievements since 2019 as too long ago to be used as a benchmark.
Norza, who is also a member of the MSN’s management board, said he had already raised the issue at a board meeting two weeks ago.
He said the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) and MSN should seek more allocation to ensure that the Podium Programme, which began in 2015, could be continued as it was an important component in the development of the country’s elite athletes.
Bernama understands that about 550 athletes, including over 100 Para athletes, were in the Podium Programme previously.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu was earlier reported to have said that although certain athletes would no longer train under the MSN, KBS would always monitor their condition from time to time and ensure training would continue under their respective associations. – Bernama, December 21, 2021
