He has the know-How
THE Gold Coast Commonwealth Games begins tomorrow with the opening ceremony. After a 6-7-6 medal haul at the 2014 Glasgow Games, the Malaysian contingent aim to do better. Starsport’s KNG ZHENG GUAN catches up with Malaysian chef-de-mission Huang Ying How
Q: This is the first major assignment you’ve had since being involved in sports administration. What’s your challenge being the chef-de-mission?
Ying How: The challenge is to hold a team together. I’ve emphasised that we are a big family. I’ve learned from squash – that athletes face lots of pressure. They feel overwhelmed to deliver, especially in sports that requires one to be calm and steady such as shooting and diving. As the CDM, I do not coach them. But my job is to be there to support them and do everything possible so that they arrive at their events with minimum distraction and maximum reinforcement.
Q: Can you describe the things you have done so far as the CDM?
Ying How: I was appointed as CDM in February last year. I attended my first meeting last April. I had a first run on all the venues. I checked out the status of the Games Village because it’s imperative to know and assess the conditions that our athletes would be staying in. Over the period, it was a lot of the administration work. There was a need to ensure that the Games kitchen staff understood our halal requirements and ensured all accommodation issues and ticketing were in order.
Q: How different is this year’s Commonwealth Games compared to the Glasgow edition in 2014?
Ying How: I had a few discussions with other CDMs before me, primarily Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria (of the Badminton Association of Malaysia) and Datuk Low Beng Choo. We reviewed the report of 2014 and ensured the same mistakes won’t be repeated. The biggest difference this time is the introduction of the Podium Programme after the failure in Glasgow. The biggest issue back then was about process losses, due to inefficiency and bad planning. We’ve done well with the foreign expertise we’ve brought in. I wish that we had more time with the Podium programme but some sports have shown marked progress.
Q: Speaking of progress, we’re still relying a lot on familiar faces. What kind of progress are we looking at?
Ying How: We don’t have a young athlete as world champion but I believe the progress is there. For example, we can see that the juniors are coming up in squash such as Ng Eain Yow. The 19-year-old has benefited under the Podium programme and it showed when he broke into the world’s top 50 last year. If compared to the time of Ong Beng Hee, he’s well ahead of the curve. I think this is the same for other sports such as badminton. Maybe we don’t have a world No. 1 right now but the overall strength is improving and the juniors are showing results. We can’t immediately replace the existing icons but the new generation is surely coming through.
Q: What about sports that are relatively still struggling?
Ying How: There are a few sports that I’m particularly passionate about such as rugby sev- ens, women’s basketball and triathlon. For some, the competition at this level is world class. Our rugby team qualified on merit. This is the first step for them but they will struggle in Gold Coast. I’ll not judge a team just on their results but on how they face the competition. Similarly with women’s basketball, the level is incredibly high. But our team are in high spirits and hopeful of doing better than their world rankings. These are sports that will struggle but it will help them in the long run and they have shown that they deserve to be there.
Q: The public has expectations. How important is it, dealing with the public’s perception?
Ying How: It has been clearly stated that a top-10 finish is our target. I’m confident that we have done the best preparation we can. I do feel that it’s bad for the athletes to have a target they must meet or to think that anything less than a gold is a failure. We have to understand that athletes in the Podium programme have their own targets. Some are actually gold medals but making it public won’t help the cause. Podium athletes have two major events – the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games – to deliver and that is enough pressure on them. And there’s no way Nicol David will go to Gold Coast with a target of a third-place finish. At the end of the day, it’s all about managing expectations. We’ve done the best to prepare them, so now they just need to go there and do their best.