KUALA LUMPUR: The political instability that occurred in the country over a period of four years caused some 220 national athletes to be unable to continue training since no specific provision was given for the implementation of the senior training programme under the Podium Porgamme 2022.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh (pix) said during the four-year period there were three changes of Prime Minister and three times Minister of Youth and Sports which caused changes in board members (of sports authorities), budgets and focus.
Taking the example of the details of the 2022 Budget that was tabled in October 2021, Hannah explained that no allocation was given for Podium Programme 2022.
“This caused the National Sports Council (MSN) to reorganise athlete preparation programmes for the main sports meets scheduled for 2022, among them the Vietnam SEA Games, Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
“At the same time, MSN also had to distribute and use internal allocations to ensure that athlete training allowances and coaches salaries continued without delay so as not to affect the performance of athletes who were in training,“ she said during the Ministers’ Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.
More to come..
