KUALA LUMPUR: Female athletes are free to choose their sporting attire for training, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said her ministry did not put a guideline for training attire for athletes, but said they must adhere to the competition guidelines during championships.
"In this sport (diving), what is most important is that the clothing must provide comfort to the athlete first, and another, safety.
"For me, personally, I feel that there is no problem if a diver would want to wear a different attire during training or others.
"However, what is important I feel is that for championships, the athlete is bound to standards, but for trainings, I have no problem."
She said this in response to Afnan Hamimi Taib (Perikatan Nasional-Alor Star) during her winding up debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address in Parliament, today.
The Pas lawmaker had asked Yeoh to state her views on allowing female Muslim athletes a choice to wear syariah-compliant sporting attires.
He said the ministry could propose the idea with the possibility of attracting more future talents.
Yeoh added that before making any decision, she would consult the views of the technical director and experts.
"I want to show respect to women. They can wear anything they want to exercise… our policy is to allow them to exercise (freely).
Earlier, Yeoh had explained the ministry's efforts in addressing the country's diving athletes' performance ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Last year, it was reported that women gymnasts in Terengganu would be competing in wushu instead of their own category in Sukan Malaysia games, after the state government rejected their non-syariah compliant attire.
In response, Yeoh had said sports attires that are the accepted norm, should not be used to stop athletes from pursuing their dreams. - NST
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.