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MAAU missing the main point

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THE Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) will be holding it first board meeting following its elections two weeks ago on Monday with only one item on the agenda.

At a time when there are so many pressing issues facing Malaysian athletics, president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (left) and his officials do not appear to have grasped the urgency of the situation at hand.

Instead, MAAU is getting ready for a round of horse-trading with the chairmanship of the various sub-committees up for grabs at the board meeting in Kangar.

The Laos Sea Games are only 12 months away but no thought is being given to discussion of programmes for national athletes next year nor does anyone have any idea which athletes are being targeted for the Sea Games, the Asian Track and Field Championships and the World Championships.

Also missing from the agenda is the membership application of the Armed Forces Athletic Association and the revised constitution approved at an extraordinary general meeting in October, which has yet to be forwarded to the Sports Commissioner's Office.
There is also the matter of coaching assignments with new middle distance coach Aziz Mirzaei of Iran still without any national athletes to train.

Mirzaei, who will only officially start his duties under contract with the National Sports Council on Jan 1, has been at Bukit Jalil for four months but only has five Police athletes under his charge.

The Iranian was brought in by MAAU to assist with the development of the middle and long distance athletes under the 'Pelapis' programme but MAAU's tardiness in assigning athletes goes down as a missed opportunity to put Mirzaei to work immediately.

Unfortunately for the national athletes, MAAU is only concerned with pacifying state officials, as the notice for the board meeting sent out to its affiliates seems to indicate.

MAAU general manager Sri Murigak Madhavan confirmed that the appointment of the sub-committee members is the only item specified on the agenda.

In the meantime, national athletes will be left to contemplate how, or if, they figure in MAAU's plans for next season.

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