I think it's been proven that politics and sports doesn't mix. Even the King, who's involve in the running of the country has stepped down, and he is a genuine horse lover.

When I saw the article, I thought to meself, it's about bloody time! Hopefully it'll bring about a change in the sttitude and result. The feeling was that it has been too long and we've lagged behind for too long now. When they set up the BJSS I thought it was a step towards the future, althought it was using the Australian AIS as a model, it was a far cry from AIS. AIS continually churn out worldbeaters in many of the sports, even the sports they are not good or famous being good at. Having had the opportunity to train at AIS, the facilities there is first class and the people there were second to none, put it this way, we even had a course one evening on how to buy running shoes and which running shoes are most suited to you and your feet. This for me is professionalism.

Let's hope that this will bring about the change and kick up the butt we need to progress in sports and once again put the name of Malaysia in the world map of sports.

I personally had an experience with MTA (Malaysian Taekwondo Association) upon my return from Australia, having trained in Australia with the national team, armed with testimonials from the national coach and various other top coaches, I approach the MTA to seek information and the possibility to take part in the national team selection tournament, not only they ignore the letter, but when I called to find out more, they actually laughed at the letters I sent and told me that I would not have a chance.
Later checks told me that it was a really bad situation there, those who lost in the selection will still turn up for national training and his / her friends will injured you in training so their friends can represent Malaysia in the international tournaments. I had team mates in Australia who went to the World Championship ini Jeju, Korea a few years back and commented to me that the Malaysian team were unfit and I would be 10 times fitter than them and I am one of the most unfit person in our team in Australia! He also mentioned that the skill level and ring craft of the Malaysian team resemble that of juniors and at least 5 to 6 years old, which mean we are stuck in the pass and no upgrade whatsoever was done to improve the teams.
Anyway, the reason MTA was deregistered was because they haven't had an AGM for about 20 years, which is not healthy for the sport. With that, I don't think we'll have any representative in next year's Olympic game, a sad sight to behold.

Well, money will go to the association with the right connections, but the things is that you can have a politician as a patron, but not the chairman or president, that way, you should still have the right people to attract funding but not interfering the day to day running of the association.

Having say that, it's as if the politicians are involve in the day to day running of the sport, which is probably why it's in such a state. The way I see it, it is the mindset of the sportsman and the coaches rather than who's running the association. Although it plays a part, but it's more on the mindset. I remember Claude Le Roy (remember him?) once said that Sharin Majid (remember him too? A nippy midfielder for KL) can play in the first 11 of mid table Liegue 1 team. He's good enough for it, did he followed up with it? What about Akmal Rizal? Miss home cook food? Perhaps he missed the nasi lemaks.

What about the hockey team? from being in the top 6 in the world to what now? WHat about badminton? From having having a pair in the top 4 in the world (Remember that era? The Park Joo Bong / Kim Mon Soo, Lee Yong Bo / Tian Bing Yi, Razif / Jalani Sidek & Eddy Hartono / Gunawan era), then the Cheah Soon Kit & Soo Beng Kiang era (Ong Boon Teong before that), to now we are celebrating when a player beats some small time player or when they win a 3 star tournament. We weren't good enough, the development stagnated rather than build on the Thomas Cup win and spur it to greater heights.

There are others to mention, but as a whole, a major revamp on the sytem on meritocracy is needed rather than the current mediocrity system where FAM receive practically the GDP of a small nation when the others have to beg borrow or steel to send teams to compete. I do hope that the system improves and we have something to be proud off and can genuinely celebrate success in the sporting arena, not just a small 2 or 3 star championship win.

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Added on August 2, 2007, 12:00 pmOn a side note, Vijay Singh was a club pro in Sabah with a Sabahan wife, he applied for citizenship and was rejected, if not we would've had a world class golfer in our ranks.

Oh the benefit of hindsigh, also show that the people here are not doing their job.

This post has been edited by Jonno: Aug 2 2007, 12:00 PM

What grassroot development? I think they struggle to spell development. The likes of MSSM & Sukma used to churn out good sportsman, now it's just getting worst and worst. I long for the day where they actually wake up from this dream that they have and actually do something good for the sporting fraternity itself.

Agree with you, but the problem with our sporting associations is that there's no proper merit system, and everyone is fighting to get more fundings from the government. A while back, the government had the system whereby a corporate company is being put as patrons of a sporting association and sponsor that sport. I guess it failed miserably because it sort of died off.
Regarding the AIS thing, many didn't realised that it takes a few years before you see the result, but you can see the progress done. However, the problem is that even at BJSS, there are some problems too, namely with the selection process, which I don't want to go into. It takes a big big cleanup and massive effort from each and everyone before the situation can be turned around. The question is that is anyone willing to invest time and effort into something that is very likely to backfire on them?

Thanks for that man, but that was 8 years ago, before Sydney Olympics. I am now 31 and while I still think that I can compete, as the Iranians compete at the highest level until theirlate 30's. It's just hard to get back into that mindset again. It's a sad thing that I retired shortly after that. Mistake if you ask me, now, perhaps some small tournaments...