KUALA LUMPUR – The National Sports Council (NSC) has no plans to sideline weightlifting despite doping offences at the recently-concluded 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma).
Instead, NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said they will continue to help the sport thrive as they have proven good results at Hanoi 2021 SEA Games and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“Our support towards the sport (weightlifting) has never wavered. At times, the assistance given to the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) for their athlete development surpasses the core sports.
“Moving forward, we will discuss with MWF and the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to find a solution to prevent doping issues from arising in future tournaments.”
At Sukma this year, MWF withdrew from managing the event as two Terengganu athletes and one Perlis athlete tested positive for doping in the pre-tournament tests.
MWF would not recognise any national records in the competition and NSC officials were forced to step in to run the competition.
Weightlifting was also among the three sports dropped from the country’s list of 19 core sports. The other two sports dropped from the list are sepak takraw and taekwondo in 2017.
However, following their achievements in delivering one silver and three bronze at the 2021 SEA Games as well as two gold and one silver at the 2022 Birmingham,
Shapawi said the NSC will take into account the sports’ achievements in 2021 SEA Games (one silver and three bronze) and 2022 Commonwealth Games (two gold and one silver) when considering to re-list weightlifting as a core sport.
“When we decided to drop weightlifting from the list of core sports, it goes to show that we are taking this matter seriously.
“What is important right now is we have to continue to unearth weightlifting talents while continuing to educate athletes that doping should not be synonymous with the sport.”
Shapawi was met at a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the NSC and shawl company TudungPeople International Sdn Bhd today as part of a collaboration.
The company aimed to provide sports-friendly hijabs for the national women athletes. – The Vibes, September 29, 2022
