Win medals or be ousted from podium programme, athletes warned

KUALA LUMPUR: National athletes under the Podium Programme need to win at least a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia this August or face possible elimination from the programme supervised by the National Sports Institute ( ISN).

ISN chief executive officer, Dr Mohd Khairi Zawi said ISN had found many athletes under the programme who had failed to achieve encouraging results in international sports meet this year despite the programme had provided the best sports science aid to the athletes involved.

“Those who failed to win medals at recent sports meets, such as the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last April, are not eligible to continue staying in the programme.

“However, we are giving them a last chance to prove their capabilities to win medals at the upcoming Asian Games as the medals they clinched will measure the success of the programme,” he told reporters after the recording of # teammas Raya programme at ISN, Bukit Jalil here Thursday.

The Podium Programme is a special preparatory programme for national athletes supervised by ISN, aimed at helping the athletes to reap excellence at international sport festival such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympic Games.

Those who failed to win medals at recent sports meets, such as the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last April, are not eligible to continue staying in the programme. However, we are giving them a last chance to prove their capabilities to win medals at the upcoming Asian Games as the medals they clinched will measure the success of the programme. Dr Mohd Khairi Zawi, ISN chief executive officer