OLYMPIC GAMES: Medal prospects still a struggle

OCM president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar addressing the press at OCM Headquarters yesterday. Pic by Yazit Razali

MALAYSIA'S list of athletes for the London Olympics  on July 27-Aug 12 is virtually finalised bar a few late bonus entries, but there is also cause for concern about the level of progress the country is making.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar believes, though the number of qualifiers and strength of the contingent has slightly improved, national sports associations (NSAs) have not been doing enough.

With the deadline for registration of athletes for the Olympics looming on July 9, Malaysia has 31 athletes from eight sports who will compete in 23 events confirmed in the contingent.

There could yet be additional qualifiers via either wild cards, special invitations or ongoing qualifying competitions in athletics, swimming, weightlifting, women's badminton and archery.

Though Tunku Imran cited the number of qualifiers as positive compared to some other nations of similar stature to the country, the still struggling nature of the contingent when medal prospects are mentioned, is cause for some concern.

"Compared to four years ago, our divers and cyclists are in a better position than we were before.

"Badminton is depleted, but we have to see how Lee Chong Wei recovers," said Tunku Imran, who spoke after the OCM's selection committee meeting yesterday.

"In badminton, men's doubles -- which was once our strong point -- have really dropped in rankings.

"In other sports, we don't see the next line of athletes really coming up and making an impact.

"This is why, on a whole, we are more or less just about where we were before.

"It's because the NSAs have mostly been focusing on their elite programmes and all the funding goes there and there's not much left for junior development.

"We need to be looking much more seriously at junior development programmes right from schools.

"For this the Education Ministry has only recently announced that it is getting back into sports.

"We've lost quite a few years because of that, but now the NSAs need to look at this more seriously and collaborate with the Education Ministry on junior programmes in schools because that is where we should begin to find the future."

Apart from badminton, cycling, diving and archery, the rest of the qualifiers, Tunku Imran said, are going to London because they qualified and deserve to get the exposure.

"All NSAs should start to look at the 2020 Olympics from now if we want to see an improvement of our fortunes.

"We should take the 2016 Olympics as a stepping stone and look at the Olympics in 2020 as where sports that can't deliver now, will be targeting medals.

"It is eight years away and it is possible that we could see our fortunes change."

Meanwhile, the Malaysian National Cycling Federation's (MNCF) much awaited decision on its selection of the two road cyclists for the Olympics has come to a stalemate with the federation seeking a delay to June 16 for the final decision.

MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad, did however, indicate to the selection committee that the top two candidates currently are Adiq Husainie Othman and Harrif Salleh.

 

Qualifiers

Archery:

Men's Individual and Team: Cheng Chu Sian, Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Haziq Kamaruddin

Women's Individual: Nurul Syafiqah Hashim

Cycling

Men's Track: Azizulhasni Awang (200m sprint & keirin), Josiah Ng Onn Lam (keirin reserve)

Men's Road: Muhamad Adiq Husainie Othman, Mohd Harrif Saleh (subject to final confirmation by MNCF)

Women's Track: Fatehah Mustapa (keirin)

Diving

Bryan Nickson Lomas (3m springboard individual, 3m springboard synchronised & 10m platform individual), Huang Qiang (3m springboard synchronised), Yeoh Ken Nee (3m springboard individual), Pandelela Rinong (3m springboard synchronised, 10m platform individual & 10m platform synchronised), Cheong Jun Hoong (3m springboard individual & 3m springboard synchronised), Ng Yan Yee (3m springboard individual), Traisy Vivien Tukiet (10m platform individual), Leong Mun Yee (10m platform synchronised)

Fencing

Men's Sabre: Yu Peng Kean

Shooting

Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi (women's 10m Air Rifle)

Sailing

Men's Laser: Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy

Weightlifting

Women's Events: athletes to be confirmed by MWF

Badminton

Lee Chong Wei (men's singles), Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong (men's doubles), Chan Peng Soon, Goh Liu Ying (mixed doubles), Tee Jing Yee (women's singles), Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty (women's doubles to be confirmed by BWF)

Sources: New Straits Times