Skip to main content

Malaysia staring at big blow

IT is unlikely that national weightlifters will be a dominant force but the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) has nevertheless urged hosts Singapore to seriously consider including the sport in the 2015 Sea Games.

Deputy president Ahmad Janius Abdullah said the Sea Games plays an important part in development at Asean level and its absence would leave a big gap in terms of major competition for lifters in the region for the year, including Malaysia.

The last time weightlifting was not included in the Sea Games was in the Brunei edition in 1999.
"It (not being included) is a great blow as the majority of lifters in the region use the tournament to benchmark themselves against their (Asean) peers and gain competitive experience," said Ahmad Janius.

"With it being held the year before the Rio Olympics, I am also sure that a lot of (Asean) lifters will be looking to use the opportunity to use it as part of their buildup for the Brazil Games.
"Singapore are not really strong in weightlifting and being hosts it was not surprising they had left it out.

"However, it is not a sport that is purely dominated by only one nation and quite a few countries have a fair chance of winning gold."

MWF, together with the Malaysia Karate Federation, Malaysia Volleyball Association and Malaysian Chess Federation, have already submitted their appeals via the Olympic Council of Malaysia.

The four sports were not part of the initial list of 2015 Sea Games sports released by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) late last year.

Ahmad Janius added: "It is not only us who have appealed as representatives from the various national associations, including us, had met during the Myanmar Sea Games (last month) to discuss the matter. They also want it included.

"The Singapore Weightlifting Federation had promised to raise the matter with its Olympic Council.
"We have yet to hear anything but are really hoping for good news."

The national squad could only manage a two-bronze haul from a pared-down event in Myanmar last month which did not include the heavier weight classes that Malaysia have relied on to deliver in the past.

The women lifters, however, did well to break a total of seven national records in Yangon. By Fadhli Ishak

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Atlet Tempuhi Empat Kejohanan Besar Sebelum Olimpik Rio 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Mei (Bernama) -- Empat temasya sukan penting yang dijadual berlangsung mulai Disember ini hingga 2015 menjadi medan persiapan atlet negara sebelum menghadapi cabaran Sukan Olimpik 2016 di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, kata Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin Jumaati. Kejohanan berkenaan ialah Sukan SEA di Myanmar pada Disember, Sukan Asia 2014 di Incheon, Korea Selatan, Sukan Komanwel 2014 di Glasgow, Scotland dan Sukan SEA 2015 di Singapura. Bercakap kepada pemberita selepas melawat Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) di Bukit Jalil di sini, Khairy berkata kesemua temasya sukan itu dilihat amat penting dalam memastikan impian negara untuk membawa pulang pingat emas Olimpik pertama menjadi kenyataan. "Kita di Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS) mahupun MSN akan memastikan semua atlet mendapat bantuan sewajarnya dalam melakukan persiapan ke arah membawa pulang pingat emas pertama negara di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil nanti," katanya. Dalam perkemb...
6 comments
Read more