More needs to be done for welfare of retired athletes
Youth and Sports Minister Phoong Jin Zhe said more needs to be done to maintain the welfare of athletes that have retired.
Phoong said this when receiving a courtesy call from the National Athletics Welfare Foundation (YAKEB) at the Ministry’s office in Wisma Muis here, yesterday.
In conjunction with the ceremony, Phoong also symbolically handed over a prosthetic leg under the Association’s Special Assistance Scheme to former Asian Games (1996) athlete Dominic Karim.
The 53-year-old former athlete from Keningau has been suffering from diabetes since 2006 which subsequently led to the amputation of a leg.
The YAKEB delegation which was led by its chairman Dato Noorul Ariffin Abdul Majeed, also included general manager Zuhairi Abdul Manaf, operations manager Aminuddin Mohd Nasir and finance and accounts executive officer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff.
For the record, all of YAKEB’s top committee members are also former athletes.
Also present were other former athletes like Datuk James Wong, Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, Farid Abdullah @ Peter Govind and Maria Yusof.
“I am saddened to hear that former athletes are often neglected after retirement and that some of them have to struggle to survive.
“This shows that we need to do more to improve the quality of their lives to be an example to our younger generation, that there is better life after retirement,” Phoong said.
He said the good life of former athletes would encourage the younger generation to pursue a sporting career.
He said former national athletes could also be involved in programmes such as briefing and sharing experiences as motivations for the athletes of today.
“Former athletes need to be given priority when there are job vacancies especially at agencies under my Ministry like Sabah Sports Board.
“We need to find ways to help them and let the public know that the contribution of these former athletes is not only appreciated but reciprocated as such so they have comfortable lives,” he said.
According to him, so far there are 77 former national athletes from Sabah registered with YAKEB, 61 of them men and 16 women.
“On behalf of the State government I thank YAKEB for coming here and taking note of the welfare of former national athletes in this State,” Phoong said.
There are a total of 2,472 athletes from all over Malaysia registered with YAKEB.
The main objective of YAKEB to be registered in Kuala Lumpur under the Companies Act 1965 (on July 25 2007) is to manage the welfare of former athletes in various sports.