No room for delinquents

Khairy wants athletes to remain focused ahead of the big event

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no room for indisciplined athletes.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pic) does not want any disciplinary issues to disrupt the existing harmony in the contingent getting ready for the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, which begin next week.

Referring to women’s 4x100m relay runner S. Komalam Shally’s exclusion from the athletics squad and case of two athletes breaking the 11.30pm curfew at the Renaissance Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Khairy feels that those incidents will not affect Malaysia’s overall gold medal prospects.

The two athletes allegedly involved in breaking curfew are shuttler Goh Soon Huat and women’s futsal team goalkeeper Nur Izwani Azman.

“The athlete (Komalam) was dropped from the squad for a repeat of disciplinary problem. The athlete had disturbed the preparations of other athletes and the management made the decision to drop her.

“If the management has taken this decision, I have no problem with that as the harmony of the contingent comes first,” said Khairy.

He also accepted the explanations given by the two athletes who broke curfew and hoped that “there will no more cases after this”.

“I hope there will be stricter controls over the movement of athletes so that no such incidents happen again.

“We accept their explanations, but I want to stress that discipline of athletes comes first,” he said.

Malaysia are eyeing more than 100 golds to regain the overall title for only the second time, having achieved the feat with 111 golds when they last hosted the Games in 2001.