StarSport’s reaction to the appointment:

Ahmad Faiz Mohammad Noor

(National cricket player)

The former Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has set a high benchmark for national athletes by introducing the Kita Juara and Podium Programme. Now the new minister face a big challenge to emulate Khairy. I hope Syed Saddiq will work together with Khairy to continue the existing programmes for athletes. He needs to come out with new ideas to further develop sports in Malaysia.

Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail

(National Sports

Council (NSC) director general)

The NSC are excited to have a young minister with high calibre on board and we hope his appointment will motivate the athletes and coaches to reach greatness especially in the high performance sports.

Billy Johan

(Ice Skating Association of Malaysia president)

Syed Saddiq is the right man to develop a new generation of Malaysian youth through sports. We hope he will create waves in the ice skating scene locally, regionally and internationally.

Johnathan Wong

(National shooter)

I hope the new minister will pump more support into shooting and push for its development.

Generally, the main problem is lack of talents and development programmes. Only certain state associations have large number of athletes. Hopefully, the wellbeing of national athletes will not be neglected.

Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi

(Asian Games chef de mission)

Syed Saddiq is the appropriate choice given his age and vitality.

We look forward to working with him and hope to get his full support especially with the Asian Games just a month away.

Mejar (Rtd) S. Maniam

(Squash Racquets Association of

Malaysia (SRAM) director)

I’m looking forward to discussing the direction of the sport with Syed Saddiq. I am convinced that he will provide exuberance and dynamism to the ministry.

Wong Choong Hann

(Former national badminton player)

Hopefully, the 25yearold will bring Malaysian sports to new heights. I believe he has the ability to do so. Give him time to get good results.

Rafiq Ismail

(National bowler)

He’s young and energetic, definitely a perfect fit for the post.

And with most of athletes being young people, we hope he can guide us to greater heights.

I hope the ministry will consider improving the welfare of national athletes. For instance, we do not enjoy EPF entitlement right now like any other employees, and it would be great if he looks into that.

Datuk Dr P. S. Nathan

(Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress president)

Welcome

Minister! Welcome to the world of sports! We are seeking your help to get bowling into the Olympics and Malaysian sports into the podium of every international event.

Melvin Chia

(Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation president)

Sports promote unity and peace. I have high hopes that the new minister will consider promoting sports to all levels because presently, there are quite a number of sports which are only played or dominated by one particular race. The NSC took away our training centre in Bukit Jalil. We hope to get a proper training centre to develop and produce more top players.

Tan Sri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor

(Malaysian Golf Association president)

MGA are looking forward to the transformation of sports development in Malaysia. We welcome a holistic approach by the minister that hopefully will give more emphasis on talentbased selection of athletes and a systematic sportsscience approach to develop future champions.

Datuk Karim Ibrahim

(Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president)

We respect Prime Minister Tun

Mahathir

Mohamed’s decision to pick Syed Saddiq as the Sports Minister. He is young and energetic. We are sure that he will carry out his job well. We want to have a good working environment with him to generate more money to help track and field athletes further improve their performance.

Nor Saiful Zaini

(National junior hockey coach)

He is young but age is not a factor.

What is important is for him to carry out his duties well. For example, hockey is the number one team sports in Malaysia but more can be done to make the sports popular in the country. We hope he will play a bigger role in encouraging more schoolchildren to take up hockey.

Chan Foong Keong

(Table Tennis Association of Malaysia secretary-general)

I don’t know much about his background. But it is good to have a young minister as he will have some new ideas and will understand the younger generation well. His top priority, of course, is to do more for sports in Malaysia. Malaysia did well in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April and hope he will bring better luck for athletes in the coming Asian Games in Jakarta in August.

R. Jaganathan

(Head coach of Para Athletics)

Hope the new minister will give Para athletics full support by providing bigger budget to send athletes for overseas competition stints in preparation for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. We won three golds and one bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics and we hope to maintain it in Tokyo. We also want him to continue the good job by former minister Khairy Jamaluddin to support Para athletes.

Ng Eain Yow

(National Squash player)

The change will be interesting but all I hope is that he will take care of the athletes’ wellbeing and continue to give full support for sports in Malaysia.

Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin

(Football Association of Malaysia incoming president)

We congratulate him and hope to continue the enhancement of cooperation between FAM and the ministry to gain more success for Malaysian football .

Siti Zalina Ahmad

(National lawn bowler)

We believe Syed Saddiq will understand the athletes’ needs. We hope all the plans which have proven to be successful will be continued and further improved. We see him as a charismatic leader despite his age and we hope it will bring a positive aura.

The Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM).

We congratulate him and hope this appointment will drive Malaysian sports to more greatness.

Jamery Siga

(National Para swimmer)

I hope the ministry will continue to support and improve the programmes for Para athletes.

Saiful Merican

(Malaysian MMA Association (MASMMA) vice-president)

I hope differ rent types of marti ial arts will be introduced in the school curricu ulum as a form of se elf defence again nst the evergrowing bullying issue .

At the same tim me, we hope to produce more e champions in future with th he support from the ministry.