Rational changes by Makaf in the offing
WITH attention turning to the Asian Games next year, the Malaysian Karate Federation (Makaf) have undertaken a restructuring process to streamline decision-making in the selection of national athletes.
A new national team committee has been set up and a plan to hire a technical director will remove some of the responsibilities of running the organisation from the Makaf secretary-general.
Too many of the decisions are currently centralised in the hands of the secretarygeneral Vincent Chen, who welcomed the move to remove some of the responsibilities from his plate.
“Currently all the planning and preparation for the national athletes programmes and assignments are shouldered by the secretary-general, and for the last six or seven years I have been doing everything,” Vincent told Timesport yesterday.
“So with the setting up of the national team committee, the burden on me will be reduced and all selection matters will be handled by the committee.”
Makaf deputy president Datuk Mohd Noor Nordin Abdullah will chair the committee which will also comprise the national kumite and kata head coaches, representatives of the National Sports Council (NSC) and Podium Programme, and four Makaf executive committee members.
The decision to hire a technical director was made with qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind while also undertaking some of the duties currently handled by Vincent.
“We are planning to hire a foreigner to become a technical director,” said Vincent. “We want someone who is experienced, has connections in the World Karate Federation and is updated on the rules and regulations governing qualification for the Olympics.
“We will discuss with NSC on selecting the best candidate and the funding available. We also want to recruit one more local coach who has impressed us with his ability to produce quality cadet and junior athletes.”
With the Asian Games in Indonesia being the top priority for Makaf in 2018, Vincent said all the senior athletes will be sent to overseas tournaments including the Karate1 Premier League meets.
“We do not want to miss even one tournament because we need the exponents to be ready for the Asian Games,” he said. “At first, we will send a big squad but as time goes by we will trim the squad based on their performances and world rankings.”
Four national exponents, seen as potential Asian Games gold medallists next year, will compete at the Karate1 Series A event in Okinawa, Japan on Nov 25-26.
Kata practitioner Lim Chee Wei and kumite exponent Syakilla Salni Jefry Krishnan, who will be defending their Asian Games gold medals in Indonesia, will be joined by 2017 Sea Games gold medallist R. Sharmendran and S. Shree Sharmini in Okinawa. Devinder Singh