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Sportcheck: Razali: Asean countries must be flexible

Deputy sports minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim (right).
Deputy sports minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim (right).
 
IT remains a dream for the moment but deputy sports minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim said Asean countries must be willing to be flexible if they are to be successful in hosting the World Cup. Razali said the fact that Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup could mean that Asean would have to wait longer than 2030 to host the world's biggest single-sport extravaganza.

"We cannot be too fixated on 2030 for the moment as it is a fact that the World Cup is shifted between continents for every edition which means Asean may not get it in 2030," said Razali, after launching the first FBT sports outlet in the country at Kuala Lumpur's Pertama Complex yesterday,

"At the moment, 2030 is available but we we need to be flexible on the date to stand a better chance of hosting the World Cup," added Razali, who had presented the preliminary working paper for the 2030 bid to the Asean Football Federation in April.
On FBT, Razali said such brands can help spur the development of athletes and the sporting industry locally.

"Brands such as FBT give consumers affordable products to choose from and will help in making the government's one-student, one-sport programme a reality."

FBT is run by Universal Fitness and Leisure Sdn Bhd and managing director Datuk Radha Krishnan said more outlets will be opened in Kota Kinabalu, Johor Baru and Penang later this year.

Read more: NST

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