How to make Malaysia excel in sports?

The Malaysian contingent at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month. Malaysia has been sending huge contingents to international sporting events, only to come back disappointed. – Reuters pic, August 5, 2014.Some say we should not compare Malaysia's medal haul in the Commonwealth Games 2014 with Singapore. We won six gold medals in badminton, squash and weightlifting, while Singapore had eight for top spots in table tennis and shooting.

Ours was home-grown talent while Singapore had naturalised Chinese nationals, and the island republic had focused on fewer sports than Malaysia.

Or Malaysia could have done the same if we also followed their footsteps? Didn't we when Chinese walker Yuan Yufang took up Malaysian citizenship and represented the country from 1999 to 2008?

The point is simple. Our sports teams are not doing well at all despite the millions spent on them. Individual sportsmen and women fare better but Malaysia still did not meet its seven gold medal target in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year.

This year's total haul of six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals by a team of 180 competitors and 72 officials is a far cry from the 2010 Commonwealth Games and is in fact our worst performance in the past five games held for countries that were once part of the British empire.

What can Putrajaya do to stem the slide, or is it too late? Sports associations are run independently but most depend on the government for financial aid.

Others raise money independently and get more if they keep performing better. One example is Datuk Nicol David in squash and Datuk Lee Chong Wei in badminton.

So, should we continue investing in our sportsmen and women, and our national teams? Or should we cast our nets wide and naturalise athletes from other countries and let them represent us?

Perhaps, Myanmar can provide a possible option for us. Albeit one that will not go down well with many national sports associations.

In November 2000, Myanmar pulled out of the qualifying rounds of the 2002 World Cup without even playing a match, saying they would not take part "due to the condition of the team" and because "they were facing big economic problems".

The one-time Asian football powerhouse were fined 40,000 Swiss francs and also banned from the qualifying rounds of the 2006 World Cup.

Maybe it's time that Malaysia did that for its team sports football and hockey until they recover from the doldrums and get back to their winning ways. Keep them at home and invite other teams to play in Malaysia for competitions until we are actually jaguh kampungs that can beat theirs and then head out for regional competitions.

Revive the Merdeka Cup for that purpose. After all, we once beat football teams like South Korea and other regional teams before they caught up and went past Malaysia and now compete in the World Cup regularly.

There's also the Razak Cup for hockey. Malaysia's consolation is that it at least made it to the hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games but not former champions Pakistan which did not qualify for either.

But Malaysia lost 4-2 to Trinidad and Tobago in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the team it beat 8-0 in the Commonwealth Games of 2010 in New Delhi. Have our standards slipped so much or have the others improved?

Either way, Malaysia needs to do something radical for its sports teams. Keeping them at home and bringing the world here is far better than spending good money to send the national team and officials across the world for tournaments - only to do so badly.

We want to be proud of our national teams. We want to see our national flag go up and the national anthem sung in foreign stadiums, not see a huge contingent go abroad and come back with nothing except shopping bags and souvenirs.

To represent Malaysia is already a great honour, but to win for Malaysia is a greater honour. Let's get it done at home first.

- TMI