Looking ahead towards the London Olympics in 2012, I hope that the National Sports Council and the Olympic Council Malaysia will be more serious in their approach.
I wish to suggest a different approach, that is instead of waiting till the last moment, we appoint the Chef De Mission for the London Olympics this year, thereby giving him/her a four year headstart.
And the same practice should be applied to the 2010 Asian Games as well.
Why, would you ask, the importance of appointing a Chef De Mission way in advance, even before the athletes have qualified?
The reason is simple, let them be part of the planning process to identify the athletes and work with the National Sports Associations, assisting them to qualify and looking after the athletes needs well in advance rather then being just figure heads.
So I wish to propose, though many may not agree that Dato Sieh Kok Chi be appointed as the Asian Games Chef De Mission and Dato Wira Mazlan Ahmad as the 2012 London Olympics Chef De Mission.
What better way to appreciate and recognise the contributions of these two fine gentlemen who have contributed towards Malaysian Sports over the past three decades.
Will it happen, I doubt it very much but the ball is in your court Tunku Imran and Dato Ismail Sabri. We do not need to hold a sports convention to decide on this.
