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Monday, August 4, 2014

Malaysian sport sinks to new low, finishes behind Singapore in Glasgow

Ooi Tze Liang with one of Malaysia’s six gold medals after winning the men's 3m Springboard final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. – Reuters pic, August 4, 2014.Ooi Tze Liang with one of Malaysia’s six gold medals after winning the men's 3m Springboard final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. – Reuters pic, August 4, 2014.Malaysia missed its medal target at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but here is a piece of even worse news: Malaysia limped home behind Singapore for the first time ever in the history of the games.
As Glasgow 2014 came to a close last night, Singapore was ranked 11th in the medal standings with a haul of eight gold, three silver and four bronze while Malaysia came in at 13th place with six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.
Malaysia’s gold medals came from badminton, squash and weightlifting while Singapore won gold medals in table tennis and shooting.
Despite the millions pumped into the various sports, more than the total amount spent by neighbours Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos or Singapore, the future looks bleak for Malaysian sports.
To rub salt in the wound, Malaysia failed to meet its seven-gold target. And among other disappointments for the Malaysian Commonwealth team was the thrashing at the hands of England, New Zealand and even Trinidad and Tobago in hockey.
But possibly the most painful is ‎having to concede defeat to Singapore in the overall medal standings, despite Malaysia boasting a superior tradition and culture in sports.
One reason for Singapore's good performance was attributed to the teams being better prepared given that they will be hosting the Sea Games next year.
In the case of Singapore's performance at Glasgow 2014, six of the eight medals came from table tennis, which were mostly competed by naturalised Singaporean Chinese.
‎Singapore had bested Malaysia only when it had hosted the Sea Games in 1967, 1969, 1973, 1975, 1983 and 1993.
PKR Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, however, was not too surprised at the disappointing results this time, saying it was “a result of structural problems” as Malaysia did not take sports seriously.
“We are not treating sports as a national endeavour.
“We are not serious about recruiting the best talents, coaches, nutritionists as well as sports doctors and sports scientists. We don't have the full supply chain," said Sim.
According to Sim, in sporting nations like Australia and the United States, sports were an important industry with involvement at every level, which included sponsors, advertisers and corporations, who competed with each other to offer sponsorships.
"They are proud to compete with each other to offer sponsorships to the likes of the NFL, for fame, money and the attention of the whole country," Sim said.
Malaysia made its debut in the Commonwealth Games in 1966 in Kingston, Jamaica and returned home with two gold, two silver and one bronze medals while Singapore came away empty handed.
Sim said that sports reflected the strength of a country, as seen in the American domination at the Olympics.
"Now Singapore has moved up as seen in the Commonwealth Games, and that says a lot about them as a nation," he said.
Veteran sports journalist Tony Mariadass acknowledged that Malaysia’s position in the medal standings compared with Singapore was not flattering but cautioned against making a direct comparison.
“If you look purely at the number of medals, then definitely Singapore has done better than Malaysia.
"But it is not an apple to apple comparison as there are many factors that one has to consider, for instance, Singapore focuses only on a few sports and it is their policy to grant citizenship to foreign talents so that they can represent the island republic," he said.
He cited the example of table tennis, where most of the Singaporean players were from China, adding that there were also naturalised Singaporeans in their badminton team.
“In terms of focus, Malaysia spreads itself too thin by focusing on too many elite sports and this goes back to the question of policy.
"So it all depends on what we want to achieve and then formulating policies to achieve these goals," Mariadass said.
Perak Angkatan Muda Keadilan chief Zafril Mohd Eusoff said that it was high time Malaysia considered “importing” foreign sporting talents even though it may be an unpopular decision.
"This is what Singapore and some other countries are doing," Zafril said.
A senior Malaysian sports official who declined to be named agreed with Zafril, saying what was lacking in Malaysia was grassroots development and that sports management was in a dire need of  an overhaul.
But he was quick to say that Malaysia should not be compared with Singapore as the island republic had many naturalised Chinese competing in the games.
The sports official acknowledged, however, that using naturalised citizens had become a global trend and it was up to Malaysia to decide if it wanted to go down this route to compete internationally.
Sim added that in order to be a sporting nation, a concerted effort was needed from government organisations to the family unit where parents need to take up sports with their children.
“For example (Datuk) Nicol David. Her father was her coach and he was very involved in getting the best coach for her from overseas.
“We must also know how to retain coaches, as seen in the case of the Japanese who contributed the winning point in their Thomas Cup glory, he was coached by a Malaysian," Sim said.
Kelantan-born Izuan Ibrahim had trained Kento Momota in his early years before the Japanese was drafted into the senior squad.
Kento played a significant role in Japan clinching the Thomas Cup in May this year, denying Malaysia the title which it last won in 1992.
Sim also suggested that politicians should not be allowed to hold office in national sports associations, noting that a trend in the country was that most state football associations were led by politicians.
“While you need politicians to bring in the sponsors and the money, they should not be involved in the running of the association," he said.
Zafril agreed, adding that Malaysian sports would not progress if there was political interference.
Former Perak MB Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, who has been tweeting regularly about the country's progress in the Commonwealth Games, said that Singapore’s success in the games was because of its better leadership in sports compared with Malaysia.
“Obviously, Singapore has better quality sports leadership than us, where Singapore teamwork is next to the United States and their esprit de corps is jubilant”, Nizar said in a WhatsApp message.
‎Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang said that Malaysian athletes did their best and represented "local talents".
"There is nothing to be ashamed of as we don't import players just to boost performance.
"I would be ashamed if we do otherwise, we did our best, Malaysia Boleh," he said.
MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon agreed with Tan, saying the team had done their best and that there was nothing to be ashamed of.
"But we need to do a study to find out how is it that Singapore has overtaken us," Chong added. – August 4, 2014.
- TMI

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