SPORTS IN SCHOOLS

Of all the grand ambitions attached to achieving something in sports, the worthiest is the commitment to inspire future generations of children into sport and an indolent nation into activity.
The government says it is committed to backing this pledge, with the prime minister lending his personal weight last week when meeting the Formula Future athletes.
But what Malaysia clearly lacks is a range of policy initiatives aimed at increasing engagement in sport among the young and restoring competitive sport to schools.
Schools face a shortage of adequately trained teachers, particularly at primary level, and for many teenagers, especially girls, school sport amounts to aversion therapy. Only by changing a system that in the past has focused too closely on the able and the willing can the targets be met.
Maybe we should form another Cabinet Committee to look into what the old cabinet committee has done (read not done).

THE LO JOB

Several personalities pitched to become the LO for the Chelsea Team for their visit to Malaysia and the honour went to a recording artiste who hails from Sarawak and manages the reality show football team that is currently on the brink of creating history by qualifying for the last eight of the Malaysia Cup. This guy is a die hard Chelsea and the main stream media can probably interview him as to how he feels.

CHELSEA

Chelsea have departed for their pre-season tour of Asia without injured striker Didier Drogba. The 30-year-old Ivory Coast forward has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge all summer and his absence will increase speculation that he could leave the club.

Internazionale target Frank Lampard has travelled with the squad, as have new signings Deco and Jose Bosingwa, while Michael Ballack will travel to China after finishing a post-Euro 2008 holiday.

The Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari will take charge of his first match on Wednesday against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals. "The players are not ready yet totally, but we are starting to build a new team and a new philosophy," the Brazilian said.

"This is just the beginning, and I expect after these five games that I will have a general idea about all the players and a system," Scolari added. After touring Asia, Chelsea travel to Moscow to compete in the Railways Cup.

SOFTWARE SAGA

There have been several interesting reports in Berita Harian filed by Ahmad Khawari Isa (AKI) and credit must go to him for digging up something that happened some four years ago. I am sure he must have the evidence on how the initial proposal of RM1.8m was handled. I am not sure about one thing hough, why was the system not in place at the Kedah Sukma Games two years ago? What has happened over the past two years? Can the government de-classify the minutes of the NSC Board Meeting so that we can see what really transpired? At the same time lets have a look at the minutes of the CY Meetings that were chaired by the current Sports Commissioner from December 0 to April 08 to see who is telling the truth as to why CYC was called off.

MALAYSIAN HOCKEY

This is intended to who have made several postings on blogs claiming that I have posted comments in some blogs. Well all I have to say is keep on believing what you want and say what you want. I have my own blog and have refrained from making personal attacks on anyone and have never posted a comment on any blog. Nor have I joined MHF as claimed by some quarters. As you may have noticed I have also refrained from commenting about hockey, despite all the hue and cry. Hockey has been my first love and it saddens me that instead of working together to help, we rather ruin it further. I rest my case and please remember that I only comment on my blog. Thank you

NEVER ENDING SAGA OF CYC

Akin to scoring a own goal. That is how senior journalist Ahmad Khawari Isa described the situation the Ministry of Youth & Sports put themselves in when they told Gifted Group that the onus was on them to get the sanction from FAM and proceed with the CYC this August. Who is hiding the facts about the whole issue here? Why isn't the truth being told? Am sure that eventually the secret will be out, we shall wait and see.

Goodbye My Friend

Was informed that a former colleague of mine, Abu Wahab of NSC passed away yesterday evening, having had a heart attack after playing Futsal in Tangkak. Our friendship blossomed in 1995 when I joined NSC at their old location in Stadium Negara. After NSC shifted to its current location in April 1996, it was Abu Wahab, Ghazali Bahari and me who were the ones who used to work late, often hearing creepy noises. He was a jovial guy, a true friend indeed and I still remember fondly getting a lift on his trusty bike to Sri Petaling to buy dinner. I am sure the loss will be greatly felt by his family, but I will miss you my friend.