Parents complain taekwondo meet poorly organised

KOTA KINABALU: A statelevel taekwondo championship held in Putatan here has irked many parents for its poor organisation.

Organised by United Taekwondo Sabah Association (UTSA), the four-day tournament that began yesterday saw participation of 43 for gyeokpa; 585 for kyorugi; 456 for poomsae; and 153 for speed kick category.

Despite having more than 1,200 participants from around the state and also Miri, Sarawak the organiser has chosen a small venue Dewan Sri Putatan near here. It is learned that the participation fee is RM60 for each category per person.

According to the management, the Dewan Sri Putatan could cater less than 1,000 people for a wedding event.

A parent from Tambunan, who wants to be known as John, said that he spent a lot of money for his children to join the competition.

“Apart from the registration fee and other expenses, we are also forking out money for homestay for the fourday tournament. Despite the tournament being state-level, the organisation was very poor in terms of choice of venue which saw the participants cramped in the hall for hours.

“Even the toilet is dirty and without water,” he said.

Another mother Angeline Tan, 35, said that the master had told her son to fast the night before the weighing in which was supposed to be scheduled at 8am.

However, she said that the weighing in only started around 11am and her child was suffering from gastritis.

“It is a surprise that despite it being a state-level tournament, they only use one weighing scale for thousands of participants and there was minimal manpower to handle the event.

“Other parents shared that the tournament had always been like that in previous years, despite them lodging complaints but there is no improvement,” she said.

Jessica, whose daughter was part of the 456 poomsae participants, said that the competition was not well organised as the organiser failed to inform the parents on the schedule of each competition.

“We arrived at the venue before 9am on the first day and my daughter had to wait for nearly 12 hours before she and the rest competed, which was already late in the evening,” she said.

Jessica also questioned the security aspect taken by the organiser, claiming that the venue of the competition was not adequate as it was too small to accommodate the large number of participants, which were more than 1,200.

Meanwhile, UTSA president Francis Langkab said that the large-scale tournament had been held at the venue for many years, but no one said anything.

As for the delayed weighing in, he said it was due to having to check the participants’ documents.