Foul!

Perak Football Club (Perak FC) has signed up 20 players under its new management, Impact Media and Communications (IMC) ahead of the new Premier League season. IMC, in a press release today, said the club’s participation is in line with its transformation process, "with the overarching goal of establishing Perak FC as a self-sustaining and successful football club in Malaysia in the near future".  The starting line-up boasts players like Royizzat Daud, Khairul Asyraf, and Alif Zikri. “Ideally, we would like to field a more competitive roster as we believe that will further provide us with the edge in the Premier League but our starting line-up should not be taken lightly as we are hungry to compete," said Perak FC chief executive officer Muhammad Yunus Zakaria. "There is a plan in place to have register a full roster during the second transfer window in May.” An embargo was placed on Perak FC from registering any new players, domestic or international, or get player...

  I rest my case. Here's the original tweet that was posted yesterday: Malaysia can stop funding football, just fund the rest of the sports that’s world class. pic.twitter.com/3uVzGlFVvW — Rafique Muzhaffar (@rafiquemuzhaffa) February 19, 2022 By the way, has the Prime Minister or his team to justified why the FA of Malaysia got RM10 million instead of other more deserving sports organisations?

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker revealed there's a new badminton club in town. It's called the Lee Zii Jia Badminton Club. Ti, had in his Facebook posting, also revealed that Indra Wijaya, whose contract with the BA of Malaysia ending next month, will be Lee's coach. It's interesting to see an upcoming shuttler setting up his own badminton centre. Traditionally, such centres are basically retirement plans set up by players who have clocked plenty of time on the court. The other question that many have on their minds - who is funding Lee Zii Jia Badminton Club? I'm sure sponsors and investors are eager to know the business model and the monetisation plan to determine the sustainability of such an initiative. Going professional equals to a whole lot of money. There are coaches to pay, equipment to purchase, services to render and travel obligations which aren't cheap.  All the best to Lee Zii Jia and his new club!  P/S: It would be equally ...

  BA of Malaysia (BAM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria addressed the recent episode involving the national badminton scene via Sinar Harian this afternoon.  The national body, had on Jan 21 , slapped a two-year suspension, pending appeal, on Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei for going independent. Following public outcry and appeal letters by the duo, the suspensions were later revoked.  Here are some of Norza's views: 2:54s: "We (BAM) have processes and governance that have to be adhered to. Besides the processes, we look at past decisions (precedents). When the Council meet, there were discussions as Lee Zii Jia is an important asset produced by us (BAM)." 3:53s: "Our initial decision was based on the precedent (action taken) on other players, that is (suspended for) two years ... but we said there was an appeal process and when the appeal was made, we made a decision based on the facts that we got." 11:23s: "If you look at Akademi Badminton Malaysia, we have...

On Jan 6, MCA Youth tweeted the graphic above. It caught my attention and I made some phone calls to some friends in MCA, eager to find out if MCA Youth is well aware that MCA vice president Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker is the deputy president of the Youth and Sports Ministry. Below is what I tweeted minutes ago: Find it odd for @MCAHQ Youth to issue such a statement when MCA vice president @tilianker is @KBSMalaysia deputy minister. A phone call to their boss would have clarified the matter. Why don't MCA Youth ask PM why there's RM10m for FA of Malaysia and not for other athletes? https://t.co/7mYdp6yfll — Haresh Deol 🇲🇾 ‏ (@HareshDeol) January 23, 2022 In one of the those phone calls to my friends in MCA, I was informed by a senior member: "MCA Youth is always eager to find ways to stay relevant but they seem to be lost in their own world." Here's a pointer MCA Youth, it's best to check when you already have someone within your organisation who is part of th...

  There have been plenty of conversations about our national shuttlers going independent. There are those who don't see it as a problem. There are others who seem disturbed by it. But many of them seem to ignore the visions, missions and objectives of the BA of Malaysia (BAM). The image above, a screenshot from BAM's website , shows the objectives. Note: It does not read "owning players". The image below shows BAM's vision and mission. The mission states to have a big pool of world class players, bigger pool of back-up players and to implement development programmes. Once again, it does not say "to own players". As such, it comes to no surprise to why BAM has accommodated independent players as the leadership is simply keeping true to the national body's visions, missions and objectives. This is also reflected in the July 14, 2021 press statement below: And the statement by its president pubslihed in The Star  on July 24, 2021: BAM president Tan Sri ...

The National Sports Council (NSC) issued a clarification yesterday regarding several matters raised by national squash player Low Wee Wern ( pic ). Low was dropped from NSC's training programme due to budget cuts. For the record, the NSC is the funding arm of the Youth and Sports Ministry.  The Penangite made it clear that the procedure (in axing athletes) should have been done better. In case it is not clear, I am not talking about money or budget cuts. All I am saying is that the procedure of how it was done should have been better https://t.co/LoEhYluk5b — Wee Wern Low (@WeeWernLow) January 6, 2022 Below is the January 11 statement by NSC: National Sports Council (NSC) would like to clarify on few points raised by our national squash player,  Low Wee Wern, with regards to the issue of no new training contract offered to her for the 2022 season. Wee Wern’s contract as an athlete under the Podium Program ended on Dec 31, 2021, as with all the other athletes that were under t...