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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

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