LETTERS:The recent Malaysian Athletics Federation Championship held at Kuantan Darul Makmur Stadium was not a good indicator for the country as host for the 2027 Sea Games.
In Kuantan, two prominent Asian-class athletes, Azeem Fahmi and Shereen Samson Vallabouy, vying for Paris Olympics slots, did not meet the requirements for qualification.
Now one of them is hoping to beat the qualification mark, while the other is hoping for a wildcard entry for Paris.
It is disappointing that Azeem Fahmi was disqualified in the 200m for a false start and, in the 100m, could only manage to clock a poor time of 10.43 seconds, well below his best time of 10.09, a national record.
While Shereen clocked 52.45 seconds in the 400m final, that was not good enough to meet the Olympics qualifications mark of 50.95. She holds the national record of 51.79 seconds.
Now she must beat the qualification mark at the Kazakhstan Open in Almaty on June 23 and 24. The other option is to qualify via the "Top 48 Road to Paris Ranking", set by World Athletics (WA). Since she is in 66th spot, the task ahead is almost insurmountable.
There was one credible performance at the MAF championship with national champion and Cambodia Sea Games gold medallist, Umar Osman clocking 46.27 seconds in the 400m, just 0.18 seconds away from his national record of 46.09.
Malaysia's biggest weakness is our men's and women's middle and long-distance running and field events, where nothing much has been done to unearth new talent from the Malaysian Schools Athletics Meet (MSSM), nor from the Asian Universities and Malaysian Sukma Games.
At the MAF meet, only one young Johor distance runner was showing some promise. Sanjay Manimaran Koss ran the 10,000m race with a time of 31 min 54.08 seconds.
What has happened to our open relays and road relays at the state level or even the government service meets such as TNB, Prisons, Police, Telecoms and Customs, from where most of our national athletes previously came?
The overall performance by our athletes in Kuantan is nothing to shout about, though we do have a bit of time to achieve better before the 2027 games, starting at the Bangkok Sea Games next year.
The MAF has a huge task because some of its state affiliates are neglecting the grassroots development of the schools and clubs. We must unearth young talented athletes from all racial ethnicities.
MAF must crack the whip on poor-performing affiliates. Some affiliates struggle even to hold state meets, due to financial constraints, without any effort to enlist corporate sponsorship for grassroots development.
There is a lack of coaching clinics for schools and clubs. Another perception is that many certified coaches just hang their certificates at home. Thus, the coaching and development programmes and structures must be reviewed. Nothing much is coming out of the woodwork that can compare with the programmes in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and even Cambodia.
In the 1993 Sea Games, we won 14 gold medals and in 1997, 16 gold medals, the highest tally. Since 2000, our athletes have struggled to win more than eight gold medals. The team won only five gold medals in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Our athletics is still seriously in the doldrums, and the medal tally speaks for itself.
C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
