Skip to main content

IOC to decide on Pandelela’s Youth Olympics predicament

KUALA LUMPUR: Diver Pandelela Rinong is in a sticky situation ahead of the Youth Olympics in Singapore from Aug 14-26.
The rule states that an athlete had to stay the full two-week period to enjoy full boarding and be part of a cultural and educational exchange programme.

Pandelela’s diving competition is only from Aug 21-24 and the 17-year-old would rather not disrupt her intensive training in Kunming, China, as part of preparations for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

Pandelela, who partnered Leong Mun Yee to claim a historic bronze medal for Malaysia at the World Championships in Rome last year in the women’s synchronised 10m platform event, is seen as a medal contender in New Delhi.

She is also a potential medallist in the Youth Olympics out of Malaysia’s13 qualifiers.
To accommodate the diving gem, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have written an appeal letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for an exemption for Pandalela.

OCM secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi hopes to receive favourable reply from the IOC.
“She is a medal prospect at the New Delhi Games and losing one week of training time will certainly affect her preparation,” said Kok Chi.

“The Youth Olympics is being held for the first time. There are many new rules that have been introduced. In fact, it does not only serve as a competitive platform for the athletes but the organisers also want it to be an educational stay for these youths.

“That is why they want all the athletes to stay throughout the competition to participate in various activities prepared by them.”

Kok Chi said that Pandelela’s preparation for the Commonwealth Games was important.
“We have asked the IOC to allow this diver to arrive in Singapore on Aug 19. She will leave after the competition is over to return to Kunming.”

Asked whether Pandelela would withdraw from the Youth Olympics if their appeal was rejected, Kok Chi said: “We were told that we have to bear the expenses if an athlete does not abide by the rule to stay throughout the competition. We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”

Besides Pandelela, the others who have qualified for the Youth Olympics are Loh Wei Sheng, Sonia Cheah (badminton); Ooi Tze Liang (diving); Kevin Lim, Lai Wei Li (swimming); high jumper S. Navinraj, 110m hurdler Mohd Ajmal Mat Hassan and pole vaulter Fahmi Zam Zam (athletics); Mohd Amirul Syafiq and Khairunnisa Affendy (sailing); Fatin Atikah (weightlifting); and Lee Wan Nin (gymnastics).

For the record, there are 26 sports in the programme and they involve athletes aged between 14 years old and 18 years old.


By RAJES PAUL


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...
11 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more