PUTRAJAYA: The Sports Ministry have stressed that the Podium Programme will not be terminated even though it failed to achieve the objective set for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April and the Asian Games in Indonesia which ended on Sunday.
Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman however said that an overhaul and a review will be carried out involving all sides in the said programme.
He said that such a decision is necessary so as to ensure that no more mistakes happen especially in fulfilling and meeting the target of winning the country first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
"I feel that it would be unfair to terminate the programme now.
"What’s important now is that I need to get the full report on the post mortem for the Asian Games.
"But I have already informed the National Sports Institute (NSI) and the National Sports Council (NSC) that a minor overhaul will not do.
"There needs to be a major overhaul in terms of management structure, the current allocation system and the incentive structure as well as punishment system so that we can ensure we avoid making mistakes and success can be achieved especially in winning the country first Olympic gold medal,” he said during a post Asian Games press conference earlier today (Tuesday).
During the Games that was held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang, the national contingent once more failed to be in the top 10, after also failing to do so at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
Since being introduced in 2016, RM67 million has already been invested in the Podium Programme.
In related developments, former NSC director-general, Datuk Mazlan Ahmad has suggested via an NSTP Sport report earlier today (Tuesday) that the Podium Programme which incurs a big budget be terminated with immediate effect.
Mazlan, who was the architect behind the national contingent’s success during the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, also suggested that the high performance sports programme needs to be moved back under the NSC because they have the manpower and experience to better manage and run the programme compared to NSI.
On Mazlan’s proposal, Syed Saddiq said that they will come to a decision on the matter during the NSC’s management board meeting which he will chair soon.
Syed Saddiq also confirmed that he will be meeting with Podium Programme director, Tim Newenham within the very near future.
He also said that a meeting with all the stakeholders will also be carried out to get their views and feedback, after the Malaysia Games (Sukma) which will be held in Perak from the 14th to 22nd of this month.
Meanwhile, Syed Saddiq also announced the implementation of the training programme towards Tokyo 2020 together with the athletes preparation programme towards the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.
