Skip to main content

MAU: States should put world junior meet ahead of Sukma

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Athletic Union (MAU) have failed to persuade the states to release their athletes to compete in the World Junior championships in Barcelona from July 10-15.
Seven athletes from five states have qualified on merit for the Under-19 meet but none of the states want them to feature in Barcelona as the dates clash with Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Kuantan from July 7-16.

The athletes who have qualified for the world junior meet are 110m hurdlers Mohd Ajmal Aiman Mat Hassan of Terengganu and Alif Ashraf Mohd Razali of Selangor, 400m hurdler Mohd Firdaus Mazalan of Kedah, triple jumper Noor Shahidatun Nadia Mohd Zuki of Kedah, high jumper S. Navinraj of Negri Sembilan and Penang twin sisters Zaidatun Husna and Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli, who are both sprinters.

Navinraj narrowly missed out on the gold medal despite doing a personal best of 2.16m in the Asian junior championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka, two weeks ago. He bagged the bronze on countback.
MAU president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said he was disappointed with the states for not giving priority to the world junior meet, which is more prestigious than Sukma.

“It is only once in a lifetime that an athlete gets to compete in the world meet compared to Sukma, where an athlete can keep competing until the age of 21,” said Shahidan.
He added that featuring in the world meet would be a good exposure as the athletes would be competing against the world class athletes.

“They need to compete in high-level competitions like the world junior meet to prepare for next year’s SEA Games in Myanmar.

“States, however, are more interested in winning gold medals at the Sukma and they are offering lucrative incentives for athletes to focus on the Games,” said Shahidan, who added that some states are offering as much as RM3,000 for a gold medal in Sukma.

“States are also giving excuses that it’s better for the athletes to compete in Sukma as they don’t stand a chance of winning a medal in the world junior meet.

“This is not good for the development of the sport as an athlete needs to compete in high-level competitions to improve their personal best rather than being content with winning medals in domestic meets,” said Shahidan.



THE STAR

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
12 comments
Read more

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sports press clippings on the 24 April 2008

Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (centre) speaks to athletes after giving away the Olympic qualifying incentives in Putrajaya yesterday. — Pic: RAMDZAN MASIAM Thomas Cup Equally Important, Says Ismail PUTRAJAYA, April 23 (Bernama) -- Although Malaysia want badly a badminton gold at the Beijing Olympics in August, winning the Thomas Cup in Jakarta in May is equally important, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob. "My ministry deems all events participated by the national badminton squad as important including the Thomas Cup, which Malaysia last won in 1992. "Statements made that the Beijing Olympics takes precedence over other events is not the position of the ministry," he told reporters at his office here today. Ismail said no matter what events Malaysians competed, seeking glory for the nation should be the overriding priority. He said this when asked to comment on remarks by national badminton chief coach Yap Kim Hock on...
Post a Comment
Read more