Foul!

Could the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union set a precedent to other sports associations in the country? Read the Press statement below; JOINT VENTURE OF MALAYSIA AMATEUR ATHLETIC UNION / NATIONAL SPORTS INSTITUTE (ISN) TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH JUNIOR AND ELITE ATHLETES TOWARDS PREPARATION FOR MAJOR COMPETITIONS It has been clearly indicated openly by YBhg Dato Zolkples Embong the Director General of National Sports Council of Malaysia that he cannot work with MAAU in particular with Mr. Karim Ibrahim the Deputy President, citing various reasons in the local electronic and written media continuously. Numerous forms of approaches had been made indirectly through the MAAU President YB Dato Seri’ Shahidan Kassim as well as sports enthusiast to amicably solve this ongoing fiasco, but unfortunately all the efforts turned futile. Since it is realized that we are already at a dead end in seeking a solution on this matter, and that MAAU being the Association partly re...

"There are too many problems in MAAU and there must be a major change in the association. The athletes are being humiliated and their futures will be buried if the association does not undergo major changes." - Noraseela Khalid after winning the 400m hurdles Sea Games gold medal yesterday. Read more here . The humiliation she speaks about is not only of that suffered by the 4x400m men's quartert who, despite winning the gold medal, were forced to go home without attending the prize presentation ceremony. Noraseela was shouted at by a Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) official not too long ago. The MAAU has come under fire for various reasons. There seems to be a clash of personalities within officials, athletes' constantly claim they are not well taken care of and allegations of favoritism between officials and athletes. Sadly, this has been going on for far too long and nothing has been done to put things in place. Perhaps when diplomacy fails, the athlete...

I received a phone call from a national athlete earlier this morning. The national athlete is amused and baffled to how two fellow athletes, who skipped the anti-doping test at the National Sports Institute (NSI) in May, were the wild card entrants to the up-coming World Track and Field championships. Apparently the national athlete isn't alone. Many others are disgruntled too. I reminded the athlete that; 1. The Malaysia Amateur Athletics Union remain as the authoritative body for athletics in the country. 2. Other agencies including the NSI and especially the National Sports Council are simply "power-less". NSI can only make recommendations to the world agencies while NSC is merely a funding arm of the Sports Ministry so buang air liur hang la cakap dgn diorang. 3. Athletes should walk out from MAAU and train on their own. State AAA should shed their puppet-like status and use their brains when electing the right individuals for the national body. (Unl...