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PETALING JAYA: It was a timely New Year cheer for taekwondo coach R. Dhanaraj as he can look forward to keeping the elite national exponents under his wings for another year. There had been rumours that the National Sports Council (NSC), facing reductions in their operating budget this year, wanted to drop taekwondo from the full-time training programme. But in a meeting with the NSC director for preparation of elite athletes, Ariffin Ghani, two days ago, Dhanaraj was given the assurance that the national elite training programme for taekwondo will continue.

SPORTS Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic) has won the first round in the battle to get all warring parties in taekwondo to agree to unite under the Malaysia Taekwondo Association (MTA). It is reliably learnt that the MTA has agreed to be suspended, which will then be followed by Ismail Sabri, under the Sports Development Act, forming an ad-hoc committee headed by Sports Commissioner Datuk Nik Mahmud Nik Yusof. It is also understood that Raja Taharuddin Raja Nong Chik and Dominic Song, the former president and chairman of MTA who were forced to relinquish their positions as the Sports Commissioner's Office recognised an earlier set of office bearers as the rightful council, will also be included in the ad-hoc committee. This led to the ousted committee initiating legal action but it is learnt that Ismail Sabri ordered all parties to drop all court action as a pre-requisite. The Malaysia Taekwondo Clubs Association (MTCA), representatives from the present...

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) moves a step closer to resolving its internal conflict when leaders of two factions agreed to form a joint committee to solve the problem, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob said. He said the committee, comprising representatives of two affiliates -- the Malaysian Taekwondo Clubs Association (MTCA) and Malaysian Taekwondo Federation (MTF) -- would thrash out issues ahead of the annual general meeting in March. An election of office-bearers would also be held at the meeting, he said. "Today we managed to resolve the crisis and all parties agreed to let bygones be bygones. "They also agreed to drop all court actions," he told reporters after chairing the Malaysian martial art instructors' association and MTA meetings here. The factions also agreed to let Sports Commissioner Datuk Nik Mahmud Nik Yusof to lead the joint committee. Ismail said that if the crisis coul...

MTA chairman Rosli Ismail. THE Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) hopes to include clubs among its members by no later than next April. Talks on amending the MTA constitution to unite with the Malaysia Taekwondo Clubs Association (MTCA) and the Malaysia Taekwondo Federation (MTF) began on Nov 12 with the next meeting set for today. The Sports Commissioner's Office is chairing the meetings. MTA chairman Rosli Ismail said talks with MTCA and MTF are expected to continue until December before an agreement on the amended constitution can be reached by all parties. "The Sports Commissioner's Office convened a working committee comprising representatives of MTA, MTCA and MTF and the first meeting was held on Nov 12. "The objectives of the committee include amending the constitution as per the 'Akujanji' given by MTA to the Sports Minister, obtain contributions from the representatives on the proposed amendments and unify the existing bodies int...