OCM: Give priority to athletes, not profit

KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia ( OCM) have reminded the authorities of Kuala Lumpur Sports City to get their priority right by giving preference to athletes to fully utilise their facilities despite the drive to stay profitable.

Their president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja’afar wants the government to play its role to ensure national sports associations get a fair share of the equipment and usage of the facilities.

“We heard from one of our members today that the KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for stadium board is to make as much money as possible which means national associations may have limited use of the sports facilities.

“So we urging the owners of the Sports City to look again at what they need to do with the facilities. In my view, the KPI of any sports facility is not how much money they can earn but how many hours per day can they filled up the facil- ity with activities of junior, amateur or elite athletes.

“I am calling them to look at the policy again,” he told the media after chairing the OCM Executive Council meeting at Wisma OCM yesterday.

Tunku Imran recalled how the tracks at the National Stadium were neglected after the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

“I hope they will learn their lesson and use the centre to develop athletes,” he added.

Phase One of the KL Sports City was completed before the 29th SEA Games and 9th Para Asean Games at a cost of almost RM500mil out of the RM1.6bil allocated for the entire project. — Bernama