KUALA LUMPUR: After close to nine months without an answer from the National Sports Council (NSC), The Malaysian Athletics Union (MAU) is hoping that the coaching issue can resolved as soon as possible.
MAU president, Datuk Karim Ibrahim said that since the working committee meeting together with NSC last February, the body has applied for outside coaches to be brought in to further improve the athletes’ performances in sprinting, hurdles and long distance running disciplines.
“Right now the coaching issue remains unresolved because we want the NSC to re-evaluate outside coaches who are here and to bring in other coaches that can share their experience and expertise with local coaches.
“There are outside coaches who have been here for slightly more than a decade earning about RM13,000 a month, but sadly these coaches are not sharing their experience and expertise with our local coaches,” he said.
Without wanting to dismiss such coaches, Karim said that despite coaching in the country for slightly more than ten years, they have yet to contribute towards winning medals at the Asian Games level and therefore it is a waste.
“If it’s only at Sea Games level, I feel that our local coaches are more than capable of doing a good job, and it’s proven that our athletes can win gold at such a level,” he said.
Karim added that this issue will just have to wait till the next working committee meeting that will be held in January.
“If possible we want to find a solution for this as soon as possible because the next Sea Games will take place next year and we are hoping that we are able to match or improve on the achievements made during the last Sea Games in Kuala Lumpur last year,” stressed Karim.
