New SRAM president to focus on education, grassroots

elected Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president, Nik Razeen Adam Daud, will place strong emphasis on education in addition to expanding the sport’s presence at grassroots level in the country.

Razeen, who previously held the deputy president’s post, said he was honoured to be given the reins of the well managed association.

He won the post unopposed at SRAM’s annual general meeting (AGM)-cum-elections on Sunday, replacing Malaysian Commonwealth Games contingent Chefde-Mission Huang Ying How, who chose not to defend the association’s top post.

“Of course, I consider this a huge responsibility. I have been given a house which is in good order. I will look to not only maintain such an order but also make necessary improvements where needed,” said Razeen.

“The emphasis is very much on supporting states to continue with their development programmes. We will look to expand on this as far as we can because that is where we find fresh talent to both nurture and develop.

“I am also very keen on looking at tertiary education for our players. In modern sports, every player should have the opportunity to study for a degree.

“We have a number of preliminary programmes with Universiti Malaya (UM) and we will look to expand on that. That said, we will also look to assist players from states to get into universities wherever they are.

“You (players) can play squash but you should not forget about education, one day you will have to stop playing and that a tertiary education in the form of a degree will come in very handy.”

UM was made the centre of excellence for squash last year as part of a development initiative under the Higher Education Ministry and SRAM.

It was a tame affair at Sunday’s AGM will all positions won unopposed.

Former vice-president Gerard Monteiro moved up to deputy, filling in the void left by Razeen.

Former treasurer Gabriel Teo Chun and K. Subramaniam were elected as vice-presidents.

Negri Sembilan’s Alvin Chen is the only newcomer. He was elected treasurer.

Former honorary secretary Christopher Brodie stepped down with a replacement expected to be named by Razeen in the near future.