Veteran trainer slams axing of top athletes due to budget cuts

 

M Nadarajah said MAF had compromised the sporting careers of the athletes and there were fears some of them might quit track and field. (M Nadarajah pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor Athletics Association (SAA) is furious over the dropping of its two prized runners from the podium and national backup programmes.

It is holding the Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF) responsible for the setback to sprinter Muhammad Aqil Yasmin and 400m runner Muhammad Ilham Suhaimi.

They were among 19 other athletes from several states who were ditched by the National Sports Council (NSC) in a downsizing exercise caused by budget cuts.

SAA vice-president and selection committee chairman, M Nadarajah, claimed MAF had recommended the exclusion of the athletes to the NSC instead of defending them.

He said by doing so, MAF had compromised the sporting careers of the athletes and there were fears some of them might quit track and field.

Aqil has a personal best of 10.39s in the 100m and 21.26s in the 200m while Ilham has an all-time best of 47.02s in the long sprint.

Their feats were achieved in 2018 and Nadarajah said they were potential medallists at the Vietnam SEA Games in May.

Nadarajah coached Malaysian sprint hero Rabuan Pit to the 100m gold medal at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.

He questioned whether the list of athletes to be dropped was tabled at an MAF council meeting by its coaching chairman, Mumtaz Jaafar, for discussion and approval.

He said state associations were neither aware nor briefed on the downscaling by NSC.

Nadarajah urged fellow affiliates to voice their displeasure over the “betrayal” to the athletes whom, he said, included promising juniors.

The NSC recently dropped 144 national athletes, retaining just 298 of them (248 able-bodied athletes and 45 para athletes) for this year, apart from reducing their training allowances.

Nadarajah said since NSC’s trimming exercise was based on poor performance by the athletes, the sprints coach, American Dwayne Miller, should also be held responsible for not bringing them up to the mark.

He claimed Miller who had trained the athletes for two years had underperformed and asked whether Mumtaz had gauged his performance.

Nadarajah charged that MAF had shielded its ineffectiveness by saying the Covid-19 pandemic had affected active training and competitions.

“While other countries produced top athletes at the Tokyo Olympics and several international meets, MAF continues to blame our poor showing on Covid,” he said.

When contacted, Mumtaz, who is also MAF deputy president, said she was prepared to explain the events that led to the action by the NSC to the affected athletes, declining further comment. - FMT