ZHULIANG FOCUSES ON

Coach wants his divers to rise above doping, rape scandals

AJITPAL SINGH ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

NATIONAL coach Yang Zhuliang has described the doping controversy and rape allegation involving his divers and coach as challenging times for the sport in Malaysia.

But the China-born coach believes his divers will rise from these controversies and bring honour to the country with the gold medal target still a main priority at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

A Malaysian female diver failed a dope test during the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August, and she has opted to test her B sample in India, while ‘Kita Juara’ programme coach Huang Qiang, who is now suspended, has been charged with raping a 20-year-old back-up member.

Zhuliang admitted that he has been avoiding phone calls from the press, but decided to respond to Timesport to state his views on the latest developments of his divers in preparation for the Diving Grand Prix in Bukit Jalil (Oct 26-29) and Gold Coast (Nov 9-12).

“Yes, I have not been answering calls from the press as it is a difficult time for Malaysian diving. I am sorry for this but I cannot talk about the scandals for now,” Zhuliang told Timesport yesterday

“It is not only an instruction from the concerned parties, but is also my own decision. I will leave it to the relevant authorities to speak about them.

“Everyone, divers and coaches, is affected by the scandals, but we are not thinking about them anymore.