Get back on the Podium

Sports officials must step up after programme’s reinstatement

VICTORY for athletes. Defeat for ‘kaki bodeks’ (apple-polishers).

That’s my conclusion following the decision by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to reinstate the Podium Programme after scrapping it seven months ago.

Boy, am I glad that the programme has been restored after much hue and cry by the athletes, coaches and associations.

A few athletes spoke up against disbanding the Podium although they were at risk of being reprimanded (athletes nowdays can’t speak freely about sports policies as they are bound by their contracts – that’s freedom of speech for you), so kudos to these bold and courageous athletes!

The Podium Programme was mooted by Khairy Jamaluddin in 2016 and the former sports minister appointed Tim Newenham of England as the director.

It was all going smoothly as the focus was on sports science approaches to give the national athletes the edge to compete with the best in the world – unfortunately, it was not given enough time to bloom.

The Podium Programme was scrapped after the Indonesian Asian Games last August and Newenham eventually resigned as the Malaysian contingent did not meet their top 10 target in both the Commonwealth Games and Asiad – although there were stronger personal achievements by athletes.

Athletes were then placed under four different tiers – and none really knew where they were heading. Even the athletes were clueless.

Fundings were cut, foreign sports science experts were sent back home, a few good athletes and coaches were dropped - and most of the them were left demoralised.

One of the badminton sports officials stated after the Podium was axed and the funding cut: “Badminton is one of the top sports under the Olympic programme but we have not even finalised our programme as we’re waiting for a directive from the ministry. Can you imagine how the other sports are coping?”

It’s good that sense finally prevailed. The Podium is revived, confidence restored and Syed Saddiq even managed to get the government to approve an additional RM28mil for the sports programme this year.

But why was the Podium scrapped in the first place? Was the youngest minister Syed Saddiq ill-advised when he took over? Or were there people wanting to be in Syed Saddiq’s good books by diverting his focus elsewhere.

I’ve my suspicions but Newenham, at least, has some kind of answer.

“Podium has been reinstated – that’s vindication for the programme and a testament to all the hard work put in by the staff and coaches to build what was the best high performance system ever in Malaysia,” said Newenham.

“Wrong information was given to the Minister and all credit to him, as he has finally listened to the athletes and coaches on how the Podium had benefited them.

“We were on track for the first Olympic gold medal in 2020 and now, I hope the athletes will have a chance to get back on track after this interruption.

“Many of us have left now, so it will take some time to rebuild the depth of sports science, coaching and planning expertise but despite this, athletes welcome this decision. I wish them all the best,” he said via text messages.

The restoration of the Podium is one of the few positives I’ve noticed of late since Syed Saddiq took over.

Together with his deputy Steven Sim Chee Keong, both are taking time to meet athletes and listen to their grouses.

For example, national karate exponent Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan was on the verge of leaving the national set-up but has been persuaded to stay on to fight for Olympic Games qualification. In fact, she might even get her former coach back.

Hope has also been revived for private badminton clubs to play a bigger role in producing talents for the country. A task force will be formed to look into it – this was announced at a recent town hall meeting between the Sports Ministry and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).

The minister, however, has to tread with caution over the plan to host the 2030 Asian Games. It’s a costly affair. There are unscrupulous officials. There are opportunities to make money. And we are not even ranked top 10 in the Asian region.

Does Malaysia really need to do this?

We can’t even get it right in hosting the Malaysia Games (Sukma). Remember the deplorable conditions at several hostels and venues at last year’s Games in Perak. And it is learnt that next year’s host Johor is slow in their refurbishment work by six months!

From hosting jobs to running effective programmes and developing efficient, honourable and passionate athletes, coaches and officials, we need to get it right from the grassroots level.

I’m not sure who are Syed Saddiq’s advisers but I hope they are wise.