Sorry seems to be the hardest word
National diving coach Huang Qiang was acquitted and discharged by a court yesterday on a charge of raping a diver without calling for his defence.
Read the full report here.
For the record, national diving coach Huang Qiang, a Malaysian citizen originally from China, was charged with raping a national diver at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil September last year.
The incident led to head diving coach Yang Zhuliang's contact not being extended. Yang had trained divers Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong, both of whom were medal winners in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
On Dec 22, 2017, this article quoted the Youth and Sports Minister as saying:
“The main reason why Zhuliang’s contract as national diving head coach was not renewed was because of a culture and environment of fear among some of our diving athletes. This culture and environment had caused cases of rape, sexual harassment, violence, beatings, bullying and threats."
As such:
1. Will Yang initiate legal action against his former paymasters following the court's decision over Huang's case?
2. Did the stakeholders jump the gun by not extending Yang's contract and making statements against him, given the decision of the latest case?
3. What's next for Huang?
Also note what the learned judge had said:
“The failure by the prosecution to call other material witnesses and independent witnesses, namely workers who saw the accused and the victim at the time of the incident, shows a weakness in he prosecution’s case."
The report further added the judge ruled the prosecution had failed to prove the action by the accused was made without the victim’s consent.
Sportswriters' Association of Malaysia president Ahmad Khawari Isa, who is in Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games, had this to say:
And there's also this:
#Justasking
Is it true that certain divers wanted Yang, who they deemed as 'strict', out?
If it's true they wanted Yang out because he was too strict then the divers deserve whatever failures they get in the future. The question is simple. Do you want to be better at diving than the Chinese? If the answer is yes then do what needs to be done. No questions asked because it's a proven formula. If the answer is no, then continue to be the best in ASEAN and leave the world beating to those who want it more because while we're harping on treatment, the Chinese divers are going through the pain barrier and dominating the world.
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