No one fix for Games conundrum
THE Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) believe there is no one formula to fix the shortcomings of the Malaysia Games and the Sea Games.
OCM, over three days, had sat down and had discussions with 30 national sports associations (NSAs) regarding both competitions, scheduled next year.
Among the talking points included the age restrictions and availability of national-level athletes for the Malaysia Games.
OCM secretary-general Datuk Nazifuddin Najib said the council heard the suggestions from the various associations and will put forward a recommendation to the Malaysia Games organising committee.
“We spoke with the various NSAs on how to improve the Malaysia Games,” said Nazifuddin.
“I think from an OCM point of view, the Malaysia Games has to focus more on Olympic sports.
“The feedback has been good as a majority of the NSAs have said that the Malaysia Games should have two categories — one for those aged 14-21 and another for those over 21.
“This is because for many sports, there is no more competition after the Malaysia Games, so it could be good to have an over-21 category.
“However, there is no one formula that suits everyone as every NSA have their own issues.
“We’ll try to cover all the discussed issues and put forward a recommendation to the Malaysia Games committee. Hopefully, we will get positive feedback from them.”
Besides that, Nazifuddin also added that while it was good that NSAs are looking to blood youngsters, there have to be proper criteria to decide if the Sea Games is the right platform for exposure.
“I think we do want to move away from medal targets at the Sea Games and to look more on different KPIs such as personal bests,” said Nazifuddin.
“But nothing is set in stone at this stage. Because we have to see if it make sense to send athletes to compete for exposure because if the level of competition is too high then it won’t mean anything.
“But again, there is no one formula that suits everyone and we do hope to come up with a better process going forward whilst moving away from the traditional medal targets.”