Coach Zainal gets one-year extension
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) are pleased with the performance of chief coach Zainal Abas and have extended his contract for another year.
Zainal’s initial two-year contract ended yesterday.
MAF president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said Zainal had done well to lift the standard of athletics, which was evident at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last month.
Zainal’s charges exceeded MAF’s six-gold target by clinching eight at the KL Games. The national athletes also won eight silver and nine bronzes.
In Singapore two years ago, Malaysia returned with just three golds out of the 46 at stake – making it their worst-ever outing in the Games.
“All the council members are happy with Zainal’s ability as the national chief coach. So, we’ve decided to extend his contract until the end of September next year,” Karim said after chairing the annual general meeting (AGM) at Wisma OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia) here yesterday.
Malaysia finished third overall behind champions Vietnam (17-11-6) and Thailand (9-13-11) in athletics.
The national athletes also broke three SEA Games and seven national records in athletics.
Karim urged the national athletes to continue training hard in preparation for the two multi-sport events next year – the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15 and the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, from Aug 18-Sept 2.
Karim said they would also host one of the three Asian Grand Prix legs here next year.
“Our athletes have proven themselves at the KL SEA Games. It would be good to see how they fare against the Asian athletes in the Grand Prix,” said Karim.
MAF also decided at the meeting that they would seek Youth and Sport Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s approval to set up their own training and competition centre.
“We want to have our own centre so that we can organise more competitions at both the junior and senior levels.
“We train and compete at the NSC (National Sports Council) training centre in Bukit Jalil. The problem is that sometimes it’s difficult for us to organise events at the centre because athletes from other sports also train there daily,” said Karim.