APOLOGY ACCEPTED

Mirage and two others get to fight in Manila

ADISTANT mirage has finally turned into reality for Malaysian sambo exponent Mirage Khan after the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) accepted his apology and allowed him to take part in the Philippines Sea Games on Nov 30-Dec 11.

Not only that, OCM have also included two other exponents for the Games.

Apart from Mirage, who will compete in the men’s 90kg combat event, the other two are Fakhrul Izzat Afandi (men’s 82kg combat) and Noor Asnida Razak (women’s 81kg sports).

Malaysian Sambo Association (Sambo Malaysia) president Johnathan Wong, who patiently waited at the OCM office for three hours before meeting president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria, came out of the room with a big smile on his face.

“OCM have not only forgiven Mirage for his outburst, but also included another two of our athletes for the Games. We really appreciate their response to our appeal,” said Wong.

OCM had earlier dropped sambo from their Sea Games list and Mirage, a potential medallist, took to the social media to voice his unhappiness against the governing body and Norza.

This then led to Sambo Malaysia banning him for misconduct.

Realising his folly, a remorseful Mirage, a former silver medallists at the Asian Wushu Championships (2012) and Sanda World Cup, wrote a letter as well as uploaded an online video to openly seek forgiveness.

And yesterday, OCM accepted his heartfelt apology.

Sambo Malaysia are targeting a silver and two bronze in Manila, but are not ruling out the possibility of winning a gold either.