TM officials up in arms

TAEKWONDO’S exclusion from the National Sports Council’s (NSC) core sports programme came as a shock to furious Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) officials who described the move as unwarranted.

TM technical director R. Dhanaraj said the entire fraternity had been caught unawares following the announcement made by Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin after chairing an NSC managers’ board meeting yesterday.

“I think this is uncalled for,” said Dhanaraj, referring to the power struggle in taekwondo cited by Khairy.

“I feel this decision was made without the minister having the required information.

“It’s not true that we are preventing others from joining us, as some claim, but it is because they do not want to join us.

“We believe everybody should join TM as the national body for the sport and become one organisation.”

Dhanaraj was referring to a decision in 2010 by the Sports Commissioner’s Office (SCO) to recognise TM as the sole national governing body for the sport and become Malaysia’s affiliate to the World Taekwondo Federation.

TM was set up after the previous governing body, the Malaysian Taekwondo Association, was deregistered by SCO due to internal strife and for obstructing sports development in the country.

Competing national bodies such as the Malaysian Taekwondo Federation and the Malaysian Taekwondo Clubs Association and their affiliates were invited to join TM, whose president is Senator Tan Sri S. A. Vigneswaran.

Dhanaraj said TM remains the only taekwondo organisation which can nominate athletes for international competitions including the Olympics, Asian Games and Sea Games.

“Athletes from TM are the only ones which can represent the country,” he said

“We have activities all year round, including tournaments and coaching courses.

“I think this decision stems from an agenda by those looking to undermine TM.

“We have said the taekwondo should be united but some choose to remain outside and cry when they can’t get in.

“The problem is that these people are only interested to enjoy the perks of a national body.”

After winning three gold medals at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games to end an eight-year gold drought, Dhanaraj said TM had done well and even forked out its own money to prepare athletes for the tournament.

“We spent RM250,000 to send our athletes to South Korea to train for five months and the result was the three gold medals at the Sea Games,” he said.

Dhanaraj added that the TM board will meet to discuss their next move.

“We surely must explain the real situation to the minister,” he said.

“We regret that nobody contacted us to seek an explanation before making this decision to exclude taekwondo.”