Three sports included in Podium Programme

KUALA LUMPUR: Three sports – athletics, swimming and wushu – have been included in the Podium Programme.

High jumper Nauraj Singh, swimmer Welson Sim and wushu’s Loh Jack Chang and Wong Weng Son are among the 32 new inclusions in the list released by the National Sports Institute (NSI) yesterday.

The programme – to help Malaysian athletes to excel in major events like the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games – took off with the first batch of 97 athletes from 21 sports early last year.

The other new inclusions are Muhd Akmal Nor Hasrin (archery); Tan Kian Meng, Lai Pei Jing, Goh Jin Wei, Teo Ee Yi and Ong Yew Sin (badminton); Esther Cheah, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi and Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman (bowling); Muhd Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Muhd Shariz Efendi Shahril, Muhd Fadhil Zonis, Muhd Khairil Nizam Rasol and Farina Shawati Adnan (cycling); Amy Kwan Dict Weng, Koi Sie Yan and N. Shasangari Sivaneswary (rhythmic gymnastics); Mohd Fairus Abd Jabal, Mohd Syamil Syazwan Ramli, Mohd Soufi Rusli, Siti Zalina Ahmad, Zuraini Khalid and Zulhilmie Redzuan (lawn bowls); Nurshazrin Mohd Latif (sailing); Razak Ghazali (silat); S. Sivasangari and Ng Eain Yow (squash); Muhd Azroy Hazalwafie (weightlifting) and Sona Anak Agon (powerlifting).

Three sports – shooting, para-cycling and para-sailing – were dropped.

Podium Programme director Tim Newenham has thrown a challenge to those dropped from the list.

“The programme has a ‘revolving door’ policy. The door is not shut on these deselected athletes,” said Newenham.

“The athletes can fight hard, train hard and raise their level of performance to get back in. I want them to see this as an opportunity to turn things around.”