Another edition, I believe it was the 46th edition, has come to an end at the Tun Razak Stadium on August 10. As my homestate NS had made the final after a nine year absence, the last being 1999, I made my way to the stadium, hoping that NS barren run will come to an end. But that was not to be the case as KL were not only superior on the pitch but off it as well. Kudos to George Koshy, the ever humble KLHA President who went over to the NS bench first after the final whistle, a true gentleman.
After Felda had supported the Razak Cup last year, I am told they declined to do so this year citing budget constraints. This is the trophy of our former premier, the father to our current DPM and Felda could not afford to sponsor and offered a lame excuse. But trust me, two months down the road Felda will spend close to RM3 million on a sport that Malaysians participate for solely recreational purposes. Still that is what life is all about, full of discrimination in this country.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
TO SEAL OR NOT TO SEAL
There is talk that a national sports association could soon be subject to an attempt to seal its premises for none payment to creditors. This is indeed shocking to say the least as such an action is unprecedented (to borrow a phrase from Dato Wira Mazlan's article in the Malay Mail on August 6). Hopefully this does not happen as Malaysian sports does not need such negative publicity given the political scenario in the country. It is best to work things out rather then resorting to such means as the national association may have its own reasons as to why they are unable to pay up. But the bottom line is to live within your means right, and obviously this has not been the case.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
4 YEARS ON
This was an article written by S. Selvam of the NST in 2004 before the Athens Olympics.
"THE Athens Olympic Games will be the last multi-sport Games for Datuk
Mazlan Ahmad as the director-general of the National Sports Council (NSC).
He retires in July next year, but Mazlan wants to remember Athens as a
Games where Malaysians return with, at the very least, one medal and
firmly believes the colour could be gold.
"Some say NSC are very conservative when it comes to predicting the
number of medals in any multi-sport Games. But I really hope, the national
contingent will return with at least one medal, irrespective of the
colour," said Mazlan in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
"As long as the team return with at least a medal, a target which is
very much within our capability, I'll be happy.
Nope we did not win ANY medal at the Athens Olympics and what followed was an inquiry conducted by one Muralee Menon and Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad. While Ibrahim's report centered on the performance and preparation of the athletes in Athens, Muralee's report almost led to Mazlan losing his job as the NSC DG.
The only positive thing that came out of it was the formation of the Cabinet Committee for Sports chaired by none other then the Deputy Prime Minister. And to be honest nothing concrete has been done to help sports. First there was such fanfare as the Core Sports Program was launched after the First Cabinet Committee meeting held on November 2004. Four years on that is dead and buried.
We had 14 Ministers as members of the Cabinet Committee, and what do we have to show after four years, nothing.
The fields are still being taken away in the name of development, the TPCA Stadium issue not resolved and we have Matsushita giving up their complex for NSC to run. And the school fields are still off limits after school hours to the local community, teachers in schools still teach PE in tudung, we still have only one period for PE and we have the Education Ministry trying to bite more then they can chew by taking over age group tournaments when it is they who have killed the inter school rivalry in the first place.
Four years on and we have a new man at the helm at NSC, Dato Zolkples Embong as the Director General. And he too made an interesting observation, but this is the same tune sung four years ago,
"NATIONAL Sports Council (NSC) director general Zolkples Embong has declared the Malaysian Olympics contingent are the best prepared and is optimistic the medal drought will be ended in Beijing next month. Badminton is the sport where Malaysia can expect at least a medal and Zolkples said the BA of Malaysia (BAM) has assured it will not fail this time."
I do hope and pray that we do not fail to land a medal, but if we do then we can always rely on holding another investigation or form more committees, for we are gold medal winners in doing just that.
"THE Athens Olympic Games will be the last multi-sport Games for Datuk
Mazlan Ahmad as the director-general of the National Sports Council (NSC).
He retires in July next year, but Mazlan wants to remember Athens as a
Games where Malaysians return with, at the very least, one medal and
firmly believes the colour could be gold.
"Some say NSC are very conservative when it comes to predicting the
number of medals in any multi-sport Games. But I really hope, the national
contingent will return with at least one medal, irrespective of the
colour," said Mazlan in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
"As long as the team return with at least a medal, a target which is
very much within our capability, I'll be happy.
Nope we did not win ANY medal at the Athens Olympics and what followed was an inquiry conducted by one Muralee Menon and Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad. While Ibrahim's report centered on the performance and preparation of the athletes in Athens, Muralee's report almost led to Mazlan losing his job as the NSC DG.
The only positive thing that came out of it was the formation of the Cabinet Committee for Sports chaired by none other then the Deputy Prime Minister. And to be honest nothing concrete has been done to help sports. First there was such fanfare as the Core Sports Program was launched after the First Cabinet Committee meeting held on November 2004. Four years on that is dead and buried.
We had 14 Ministers as members of the Cabinet Committee, and what do we have to show after four years, nothing.
The fields are still being taken away in the name of development, the TPCA Stadium issue not resolved and we have Matsushita giving up their complex for NSC to run. And the school fields are still off limits after school hours to the local community, teachers in schools still teach PE in tudung, we still have only one period for PE and we have the Education Ministry trying to bite more then they can chew by taking over age group tournaments when it is they who have killed the inter school rivalry in the first place.
Four years on and we have a new man at the helm at NSC, Dato Zolkples Embong as the Director General. And he too made an interesting observation, but this is the same tune sung four years ago,
"NATIONAL Sports Council (NSC) director general Zolkples Embong has declared the Malaysian Olympics contingent are the best prepared and is optimistic the medal drought will be ended in Beijing next month. Badminton is the sport where Malaysia can expect at least a medal and Zolkples said the BA of Malaysia (BAM) has assured it will not fail this time."
I do hope and pray that we do not fail to land a medal, but if we do then we can always rely on holding another investigation or form more committees, for we are gold medal winners in doing just that.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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 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).
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
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.
Monday, July 21, 2008
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.
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
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
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.
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