ICE SKATERS FEEL THE HEAT
Rival national bodies at war
THE war in the national ice skating fraternity is showing no signs of cooling down amid preparation for the Manila Sea Games on Nov 30-Dec 11.
At loggerheads over national selection are the Malaysia Ice Skating Federation (MISF) and the Ice Skating Association of Malaysia (ISAM).
This has led to MISF saying they are concerned the national skaters are the ones who suffer in this “icy war.”
“MISF are saddened to read disparaging comments made about the state of preparedness of our Sea Games skaters,” the MISF stated on their Facebook page recently.
“Not only are these disparaging
remarks ignorant and ill-informed, they are unfair and disrespectful to our athletes who are working hard every day.”
It has been reported that the national ice skaters’ training programme for the Sea Games has been marred by the feud between MISF and ISAM.
Amid the conflicts, 2017 Sea Games gold medallist Ameer Iman Fadzli alleged that he was unfairly treated by MISF.
The ice skater claimed that he and his teammates were frozen out of the national squad, thus denying them the chance to defend their gold in Manila.
The MISF, in response to the accusations, said in a statement: “As far as we are concerned, there is no tussle between MISF and ISAM. The vast majority of the skating community in Malaysia has moved on from the sad events that led to ISAM’s downfall.
“The only few athletes still affected are those whose parents were on the ISAM committee and continue to insist that they were victims of some sort of conspiracy, rather than victims of their own poor judgement.”
In the statement, the MISF said a transparent selection policy was used in recommending 11 athletes to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) for the Sea Games, with one place pending on a skate-off on May 29.
The 11 athletes are Malaysia’s top figure skater Julian Yee, Chew Kai Xiang and Aina Sorfina, as well as eight short track speed skaters led by national ice queen Anja Chong, Dione Tan Shu Yen, Chan Kynie, Jack Oh, Ashley Chin, Sean Yei Qi Jun, Mohamad Hazim Syahmi Shahrum and Khairil Ridhwan Khalil.
In January, ISAM were de-registered by the Sports Commissioner for failing to present financial reports from 2015-2017.
OCM secretary-general Datuk Nazifuddin Najib was reported as saying on Saturday that OCM will only work with MISF, and that they have not received any complaints from ice skaters.
In the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games, where ice skating events were contested for the first time, Malaysia won five gold and four bronze medals. Anja skated her way to three gold in the women’s 500m, 1000m and 3000m relay.