KJ SMASHES BAM

Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin lambasted the Badminton Association of Malaysia as not doing enough to uplift the standard of badminton in the country.

 

And he also questioned the BAM President Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tg Arif  as to why he was taking over all the committees when the load should be shared amongst the Council.

 

Not mincing his words Khairy said that he was disappointed with the overall performances of the players in the Malaysian Open but felt that BAM needed to do more for the players.

 

“Rightfully we should do better but we are not and I am really concerned about the present scenario,” said Khairy to journalist at the sidelines of the tournament.

 

“In the past we used to send more players for international exposure yet the new committee has sought to cut down on this aspect.

 

“Then there is also an issue of overdependence on the Bukit Jalail Sports School for development when rightfully BAM should embark on a nationwide plan that can produce players.

 

“It looks like they are contend with depending on Lee Chong Wei, and he is ageing. Do not take it the wrong way as Chong Wei is my friend, but how long can we continue to rely on him alone for success.”

 

Khairy said that Mahaleel had met him a couple of months ago and spoke about new plans and changes to be made in BAM.

 

“It has not materialised and I want BAM to come see me with what their plans are and how to ensure badminton recovers from its slide,” added Khairy.

 

“For example, they talk about an academy, but now I ask them in return, why is the academy not running yet? There is no need to wait if it’s a good plan, just do it.

 

“On domestic competitions I feel that not enough is being done to provide players with a competetive platform to excel hence we cannot get quality players.”

 

The Minister said that he was not peeved with Mahaleel not being around during his visit.

 

“I was to come earlier but had to reschedule so I am an hour late. I really do not care for protocol. I needed to address the issue and have done it, and that matters.”

 

Khairy said that he expects BAM to revert to him with a proper solution to overcome the issues and is willing to meet the BAM heirachy to discuss the issues at hand.

SILENT FAM WORRY FOR KHAIRY

The Football Association of Malaysia are seemingly cold towards the National Football Development Plan initiated by Sports Minister Khairy Jamaludfin.

For the FAM have yet to revert with a proposed date for the Minister to present the proposal in person to the national body.

And this has the Minister perplexed as to what is holdings this up as this could derail plans to launch the NFDP in Kuantan later this month.

Khairy had written a letter to FAM Deputy President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah in mid November seeking a platform to present the plan.

Yet one and the half months later, Khairy has yet to receive a reply yet alone a date.

"I had written to Tengku Abdullah seeking for a suitable time and date to present the whole plan for FAM to provide their impetus," said Khairy when met at his office in Putrajaya.

"This is somewhat awkward as we hope to launch the program at the end of January.

"Their continued silence is disrupting the plans."

It is an open secret that FAM are u easy with Khairy's criticism over some issues relating to FAM after he assumed office in May last year.

And matters were further strained when Khairy appointed Tan Sri Annuar Musa into the committee overlooking the NFDP as he was still serving a 30 month suspension meted out by FAM.

Subsequent to that Annuar relinquished all his positions in FAM as well as the Kelantan FA so as to enable Khairy to work with FAM to fulfill the national agenda.

However the cold shoulder treatment being meted by FAM sends the wrong signal to the Minister.

FAM should decide on a suitable date and revert, if they at all interested in the development of football in the country.

CARDIFF AND QPR QUIET ON HELPING MALAYSIAN FOOTBALL

Despite making waves, for better or worse, the two Malaysian owned clubs in the Barclays Premier League and Division One have yet to open their doors to transfer technology to the Malaysian national football team.

Tan Sri Vencent Tan who owns Cardiff City and Tan Sri Tony Fernandes who runs Queens Park Rangers have yet to make available attachment programs for coaches of the various national teams.

Being understudies to the likes of Harry Redknapp (QPR) and Ole Gunnar Solksjear ( Cardiff ) could well be an enlightening experience for Malaysian coaches.

Coach of Harimau Muda and caretaker of the National Team Dato Ong Kim Swee said that he would readily grab a chance to learn from the duo, making it no secret that Redknapp was someone he looked up to.

Kim Swee said that as a coach, he always believed that each day was a learning process.

"I would certainly jump at the opportunity of an attachment with any of the Premier League clubs if given the opportunity," said Kim Swee.

"However I doubt any approach has been made to the two clubs.

"It is not within my jurisdiction to seek such an attachment but I must add that I will be honored to go."

Dato K. Rajagobal benefitted in training at Carrington, the training ground of Manchester United when he took charge of the first Harimau Muda.

They managed to watch Sir Alex Ferguson putting his through their paces and also defeated a Brian Maclair coached Man Utd U18 squad 4-1.

Former national coach B. Sathianathan was promised a stint at Chelsea but that never materialized.

FAM should take the first step towards such a stint by approaching the two Tan Sri"s.

And they should target the pre-season preparation stage from now.

OCM, NSC UNDER CLOSE WATCH

The National Sports Council and Olympic Council of Malaysia have been given two weeks to conduct a post mortem and report their findings to the Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

And the Minister expects the two bodies to be thorough with their report as he expects them to provide findings that will be address any shortcomings and at the same time ensure that the preparations for the multi sports events are not affected.

And Khairy is prepared to go one step further, for he is quite prepared to let the soon to be appointed Sports Advisory Panel dissect the report and look at areas that were not addressed and let them come up with recommendations.

"I am in the midst of short listing candidates for the Sports Advisory Panel. And I will not hesitate to hand the task of the SEA Games post mortem to the panel should I find the report submitted by OCM and NSC not up to the mark" warned Khairy.

"I believe that OCM and NSC will be detailed in their findings and provide fresh impetus on how to address any weakness in our system especially when we have the Commonwealth Games and Asian games this year.

"Let me make it clear that it is not a fault finding mission, but one that requires transparency and honesty if we want to improve on our sporting fortunes."

Khairy said that he will be announcing the Chairman and members of the Sports Advisory Panel next week and intends to get them involved in charting the course in improving the quality of Malaysian sports.

"While achieving the 40 gold medal target is commendable, we must also find out why some projected gold medals prospects failed to deliver," added Khairy.

"Thus I call on OCM and NSC to be honest and transparent in their post mortem and not attempt to paint a rosy picture," warned Khairy.

SEA GAMES REVIEW

 

For all intent and purpose, Malaysian sports officials, be it from the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the National Sports Council will be giving themselves a pat on the back for surpassing the gold medal target of 4- to return home with 43 gold medals from the Myanmar SEA Games.

 

But in reality if we are to take a hard look at the performances against the millions spent, there is really not much to rejoice but rather it goes on to show our sports scenario is either sliding or stagnated.

 

True there are heroes, some household names amongst the young who will look at the star performers at the SEA Games as their idols, but we must take into perspective several sports or athletes that did nopt deliver.

 

When targets are set, they are an indication that the particular sport or athlete will deliver the goal medal at the regional games.

 

The 40 gold medal haul was set a month ago, a relatively low and safe target as NSC and OCM opted to to give a true reflection on the state of sports in the country, thus the target released was based on sports, not by athlete as was the case when Dato Wira Mazlan Ahmad was the Director general of the NSC.

 

In case many may have forgotten, the 40 gold medals were to come as following  swimming (3), diving (8), cycling (1), bodybulding (1), football (1), hockey (2), karate (6), archery (3), shooting (1), muaythai (1), athletics (1), sailing (2)si;at (3) and wushu (3).

 

So one just has to compare the target to the gold medals won to realise that it was not a proper target and NSC should take the blame as they gave false hopes, only for some outstanding performers to save the day.

 

Another argument put forward by the National Sports Council was that 25 gold medals came from Olympic sports.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the Olympic sports that delivered gold medals. diving accounted for eight with archery recurve two, athletics (4), hockey (2), swimming (4),  shooting (1), sailing (2) and badminton (1).

 

Though endurance and archery are Olympic sports the disciplines we won gold are not in Olympics while karate that delivered six golds is not contested at Olympics.

 

Besides hockey, badminton, archery, diving and shooting, the others can hardly make a mark at the Asiad what more the Olympics.

 

Truth be told there were star performers who did the nation pround and they must be acknowledged.

 

The likes of Phoon Eyin from wushu who secured the nationas 1,000 gold medal but was left to fend for herself. Who can gorget Mohd Irgfan Shamsuddin who took gold in discuss, rewriting the national record five times in his six throws.

 

The two muaythai exponents also deserve special mention, Mohd faizal Ramli and Lokman Akimi Mat Roji who both secired gold against all odds, Lim Chee Wei who registered comprehensive wins on his way to gold in the individiual kata category.

 

While some rejoiced at Malaysia winning the womens hockey match 36-0 against Cambodia thus creating a world record, it was in bad taste.

 

In the kingdom of the blind, those with one eye rule, hence Malaysia which is a world poweer in hockey should really have not rubbed salt into the wounds of teams like Cambodia and such scoreline goes on to show their “Jagauh Kampung: mentality and killed the promotion of the sport in the region.

 

What was more amusing was the statement by mens coach tai Beng Hai who was quoted as saying that Malaysia did well to retain the gold medal despite the absence of some senior players. For gods sake Beng Hai, you had 10 World Cup training squad members.

 

Badminton is another sport that failed despite the gold medal as did cycling which in reality is being run by the NSC directly.

 

So what next, give each other pats on the back, nevermind we only won only 43 golds as opposed to 59 two years ago, but then again that was the only item going down as all other stuff will go up come January.

 

KARIM WINS ROUND ONE

The High Court here Friday allowed an application by former Malaysian Athletics Union (MAU) deputy president Datuk Karim Ibrahim to set aside his six-year suspension by the union last year.

Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof, in her decision, ruled that based on the MAU constitution, Karim was not a member of the union.

"The disciplinary proceeding meted against him was a serious matter and in view that he is not a union member, MAU cannot take action against him," she added.

Last April 1, Karim, who is also the Melaka Athletics Association vice-president, filed an originating summons against MAU to challenge his six-year suspension by the Union.

In the originating summon, Karim had asked the court to decide if the MAU had the authority to order his suspension although he was not a MAU member during the said period in accordance with the MAU constitution that was amended on July 25, 2011.

Karim was suspended by the MAU for allegedly assisting six national athletes to snub a doping test by the National Sports Institute (ISN) in 2011.

The MAU which set up a panel headed by former Appeals Court judge Tan Sri V.C George to investigate the matter, had allegedly found Karim guilty of the offence.

Karim, who was represented by lawyer Didiana Zakaria, was at the court.

MAU was represented by lawyers Alex De Silva and Adlan Hadi Mohamad Yusof.

WHAT IF ASTRO PULLS THE PLUG

MANY Malaysians suffer from withdrawal symptoms when football takes a break from June till mid-August yearly.

Some go through pain some as if the spice of their life has gone missing. They struggle to look for something else to do, especially over the weekends. Most mamak eateries report a drop in customers as well.

Imagine this scenario being repeated each month and there is no football over television, week in and week out - no staying awake or getting up in the wee hours of the morning to watch football on weekdays.

Read all about it in www.mail.com.my on Monday

DOLLAH HEADS TO PDRM AND A HOST OF COACHING CHANGES IN M-LEAGUE

The two coaches of the Malaysia Cup finalists – Dollah Salleh and Bojan Hodak  are headed in different directions.

But one thing is certain, they will not be coaching Pahang and Kelantan respectively.

While Dollah is headed to the Royal Malaysian Police, Bojan is headed to Penang, not as their coach but moving his stuff to live there.

While the move by Dollah to a lower division is indeed surprising, given that he is also in the shortlist of coaches identified to take over the reins of the national team from K. Rajagobal,

“Currently I can safely say I will not be coaching in the M-League unless something changes in the next few days. My ongoing negotiation is with a club from Thailand,” said Bojan.

“At the same time I am trying to complete my pro-license with the Croation FA and have three more papers to complete. I want to use this break to do those papers.

“Really there is no rush to find a new coaching job as there are many things I need to consider before signing on the dotted line.”

Dollah’s move to PDRM has been speculated for quite sometime but it is his replacement, Alan Davidson that raised eyebrows.

Allan was a member of Pahang’s squad that won the double in 1992 and was speculated to sign as the Technical Director with Zainal Abidin Hassan coaching the side.

What makes things more interesting is T-Team’s reluctance to make a decision on just who will lead them as they have within their radar the likes of Azrai Khor, E.Elavarasan and Persib Bandung’s Dermawan.

While the Super League has been the centre of focus for many years, it is the Premier League that will boast of the who’s who of the coaching fraternity.

Felda United have signed up Irfan Bakti, Negri Sembilan has roped in V. Sundramoorthy, Kedah are looking at David Mitchell,  Penang are on the verge of signing K. Devan while Perlis are still hunting for a coach.

And the signing of new coaches is not limited to just the Premier League as there is plenty of movements in the Super League teams as well.

Newly crowned Malaysia Cup champions are said to be in talks with Alan Davidson with Selangor already having signed Mehmet Durokovic, Johor DT having confirmed Ceaser Fernando Jimnez.

Super League

Pahang – Alan Davidson

Kelantan – Steve Darby

ATM – B. Sathianathan

Johor Darul Takzim – Ceaser Fernando Jimnez

Selangor – Mehmet Durakovic

Terengganu – Abdul Rahman Ibrahim

PKNS FC – Wan Jamak Wan Hassan

Perak FA – Abu Bakar Fadzim

Sarawak – Robert Alberts

T-Team Azraai Khor/Dermawan/Elavarasen

Sime Darby – Ismail Zakaria

Premier League (Selected Teams)

Felda United – Irfan Bakti

Negri Sembilan – V. Sundramoorthy

Kedah – David Mitchels

Johor FA – Azmi Muhamad

PDRM – Dollah Salleh

PAHANG AND KELANTAN TO BE HIT FOR DAMAGES

Pahang and Kelantan may have to fork out a heavy price for the damages to the Shah Alam Stadium.

For the two teams will see a cut in their share of the gate collection once the Football association of Malaysia and the Shah Alam Stadium Board have completed assessing the damage done after Sunday’s cup final.

FAM Secretary General Dato Hamidin Mohd Amin said that once the damage is ascertained, the two teams would have to pay for it.

“We segregated the fans and hence we will assess the damages based on where their fans were seated,” said Hamidin.

“One thing we know for certain is that a gate was damaged and all other aspects are being jointly assessed by FAM and the Stadium authorities.”

Hamidin also clarified on the absence of the 5,000 seats buffer zone as raised by Mailsports.

“There was barbed wire separating the fans from both teams and there was also strong police presence,” clarified Hamidin.

“Thus we did away with the plan of the buffer zone so as to ensure more seats were made available.

“It is not a question of selling more seats but to be fair to fans as well. There are two sides to this argument and one has to understand our predicament as well.”

Hamidin admitted there were several shortcomings to several aspects, including the security on the pitch where scores of unauthorized people made their way to the track after the trophy presentation.

“These are matters we have already identified and will rectify in the future. Infact I already had one post mortem and the second one will be done once we view the recording of the final,” added Hamidin.

IS THIS FOR REAL FAM?

Is this what the Football Association of Malaysia can offer to the finalists and their sponsors? After collecting a cool RM40 million from sponsorship, just look at the backdrop and the table cloth. And the Vice President and Secretary General put up a poker face as if everything is fine. They could not even get a decent table, what more the arrangement is surely a blow to the thoughts of moving towards a professional league.