Foul!

Image: National Sports Council, Malaysia The focus seems to be on the Podium Programme for obvious reasons. After all, those behind the programme had set high targets but have to date failed twice – failing to finish top ten in both the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. While the knives are out for those behind the Podium Programme, a programme under the National Sports Institute, let’s not forget another programme under the National Sports Council – Kita Juara . On Sept 7, 2015, The Star (in its article ‘ Kita Juara’programme launched in bid for SEA Games glory ') quoted former Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as saying: “The ‘Kita Juara’ programme will lay the foundation for future success ... it’s not short-sighted. “There’s no point becoming overall winners at the 2017 SEA Games and then let it all go downhill once more.”  Malaysia became the overall winners at last year’s SEA Games – winning 145 gold medals, 92 silver medals and 86...

Just got off the phone with former Olympic Council of Malaysia secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi regarding his commentary on his Facebook page. Reproducing it here after obtaining his approval. Mid Term Review of the Podium Programme I am sure most Malaysians are aware Malaysia has won 6 Olympic Games silver medals and 2 bronze medals in badminton, one silver and one bronze medal in diving and one bronze medal in track cycling, since the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, Malaysia has yet to win its first Olympic Games gold medal. On the other hand, Malaysia’s neighbours, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have already won Olympic Games gold medals. This, it has always been the top priority of Malaysia to win its first Olympic Games gold medal. The former Minister of Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin made it his target to win Malaysia’s first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In November 2014, the minister commissioned a team of Australia...

Another 'fairy tale' this week: 1) National athlete has a coach up until the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. 2) The national athlete is then left on his own immediately after regional Games. 3) National athlete prepares for 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast without a coach. 4) National athlete appeals to the stakeholders, including Olympic Council of Malaysia, requesting if a coach can join the national contingent. Request denied. 5) National athlete was not too sure what was his KPI for Gold Coast. 6) Now national athlete is preparing for Asian Games - once again without a coach. 7) National athlete is once again unsure what is the KPI for the Games in Jakarta-Palembang. 8) Isn't it the onus of the stakeholders to ensure the national athlete has a coach? The national coach is after all under a programme initiated by an agency under the Youth and Sports Ministry. 9) And since some officials love playing the blame game and shooting the messenger, let's...

(L-R): The writer, Rizal Hashim and Analisis Nadi host Bazly Azmi. THE knives are out and in typical fashion the blame game begins as Malaysia ends its forgettable outing at the just concluded Commonwealth Games with seven gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals. First to bear the brunt would be Tim Newenham and Co.  The Podium Programme director is well aware of the objective set by his team, which was formally introduced on Feb 22, 2016; that is to be in the “Top 10 in Gold Coast 2018”, as stated on the National Sports Institute (NSI) website. Podium Programme's objectives as state on NSI's website Despite the bullish objective, officials kept mum over their expectations in Australia up until the eleventh hour simply because they had confidence in only a handful, literally speaking, of athletes winning their respective events. The nation’s best achievement is at the 2010 Delhi Games with 12 gold medals, 10 silver and 14 bronze medals. For the reco...

Just like the previous editions of multi-sports events, there are claims those not involved in sports have made their way to the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. "We've heard of such instances in the past and such talks continue to surface till today. So many people have been asking for accreditation cards. It remains unclear how many (cards) have been given out to these individuals," said an insider. To erase all doubts, it's best if the stakeholders - especially the Olympic Council of Malaysia - make public the list of officials and individuals who are in Gold Coast 2018. Also, the list should specific the roles they will be playing there. Every official must be there for a reason. Otherwise, the nagging question of "excess baggage" will continue to haunt those involved in the Games and future editions. For the record, Gold Coast is a surfers' paradise, has over a dozen of golden sand beaches, has Sea World -a premier animal marine ...

I have my reservations. The Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was quoted by national news agency Bernama today as saying: “The Olympic Games may be too big for the time being and the Asian Games will cost too much unless the Olympic Council of Asia reduces the cost of organising it and the one which can still be considered is the Commonwealth Games. “We have hosted it a while ago, and whether we want to host it again, I have to talk with the Prime Minister first." There are those who insist hosting a major multi-sport event like the Commonwealth Games will help spur the economy of the country. And they will also say we had "successfully organised" the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur recently.  Here are my concerns regarding Malaysia hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 1. Our hosting capabilities — I've shared my views regarding KL2017 in my earlier posting ' What went wrong with KL SEA Games? ' 2. Potential debts — In 2004, then Yo...

As published on Malay Mail's backpage today PETALING JAYA - RM59,843,126 to be exact. That was the amount spent on preparing athletes and paying coaches for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games since 2011, as revealed in Parliament on Monday. Sadly, the national contingent returned with only six gold medals - their worst performance in 20 years. It was a far cry from their 12-gold medal haul during the previous edition in New Delhi, India four years ago. A bulk of the amount - RM23,022,542 - was spent on overseas competitions while RM17,511,993 were spent on allowances for coaches and athletes. "The figures were revealed during the Parliament's question and answer session and later given in writing," said Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching. The poor performance at the Games in August, was followed by another pathetic outing at the Asian Games two months later. The 276-strong national contingent only delivered five golds, 14 silvers and 14 bronzes at the Asiad. S...

As published in Mailsport today. By Vijhay Vick     vijhayvick@mmail.com.my PUTRAJAYA — Malaysian sport needs a massive change and this could lead to a revamp of the National Sports Council (NSC). Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin conceded the Commonwealth Games and the on-going Asian Games were a failure and could result in Malaysia’s worst performances in 20 years. “We need to change. What that constitutes is to be decided. Any decisions made will be based on detailed reports,” said Khairy. “The Commonwealth Games post-mortem was done and another will be conducted after the Asian Games. We have also got the Australian Institute of Sports to audit our four-year programme. The full report should be ready by January.” It is learnt Khairy is already looking for individuals to fill key positions in NSC as the agency is tasked to look after elite athletes and their training programmes. A special unit could be set-up to oversee programmes for the...

A commentary by Mailsport team, as published on the back page today. PETALING JAYA — Many sports associations in the country are ready to hand over the keys to their kingdom to the National Sports Council (NSC) as they are afraid of losing funding if they were to go against the government agency. NSC yesterday called for the council to be given more power to determine the list of athletes for the Asian Games following a dismal outing at the just concluded Commonwealth Games. For the record, Malaysia returned with six gold medals, one short of their modest target and half of what they won at the last Games in New Delhi four years ago. High ranking officials from several national sports associations (NSA) said they are willing to allow NSC to take the lead in selection since it is their “paymaster.” If that is the case, then we might as well do away with sports associations. Since these bunch of losers are so desperate for handouts, they don’t deserve to be run...

This was taken from Malik Tobias' Facebook page Says a lot doesn't it?

This was taken from Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's Facebook posting . Saya telah mengambil sedikit masa untuk mengkaji keputusan keseluruhan Sukan Komanwel 2014 sebelum memberi apa-apa reaksi. Sejak sehari dua ini memang banyak komen diberi oleh peminat-peminat sukan tanahair. Semua komen tersebut saya terima dengan baik. Pertama sekali saya mengakui kita telah gagal. Tidak perlu saya bagi komen atau alasan yang lain. Bila Majlis Olimpik Malaysia (MOM) mengumumkan sasaran 7 pingat emas dan apa yang dicapai hanya 6, itu adalah kegagalan. Tidak perlu saya kata "sasaran hampir tercapai" atau "sebenarnya prestasi atlet kita baik, cuma tak menang". A failure is a failure, full stop. Kedua, tidak perlu juga saya menuding jari merata tempat. Saya menteri dan walaupun saya tidak berada di atas padang perlawanan sendiri, saya mesti bertanggungjawab. Yang lain - samada para atlet sendiri, jurulatih, pegawai, Majlis Olimpik, Majlis Sukan Negara (...

Haresh Says, as published in Mailsport today. A SERIES of tweets followed by interesting conversations with several former athletes.   They surrounded the performance of our athletes at the recently concluded Glasgow Commonwealth Games which saw the national contingent returning with six gold medals — one shy from the initial modest target.   Sports reporters, observers and fans demanded for accountability while others sighed, adding nothing has changed over the years, as evident in a series of tweets over the weekend. This was hours before our national women’s and men’s doubles pairs Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei and Tan Wee Kiong-Goh V Shem bagged the nation’s fifth and sixth gold medals respectively on the final day of the Games. Earlier, fans cringed after witnessing the men’s singles shuttlers failed to carry on the tradition of retaining the gold medal since 1990. Chong Wei Feng lost a keenly-fought contest against RV Gurusaidutt of India in the q...