Kota Kinabalu: Johnson Koh broke his silence on the decision not to defend the president post at the Sabah Tennis Association (STA) annual general meeting held in early May.
He said although he had earlier pledged support from all the affiliates to give him another term before stepping down after more than a decade at the helm, the decision by Dr Terrence Soong to ignore his pledge made up his mind to quit the race.
“During the president’s speech at the start of the AGM on May 8, I had made it clear that I will only go for one final term, and I had also discussed with the person (Dr Soong) that I will hand over the post by end of the year by resigning as I had two special agendas to conclude after 17 years at the helm.”
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});“However, during the nomination that person ignored my intention and pledge, and decided to challenge me for the post instead.
“As a person of integrity, sincere in intentions and purpose I decided to withdraw my name from the contest.
“I told him ‘you can have it’ since he was in such a hurry and so impatient to take over the president post,” he said.
Johnson said he was proud to leave with his head held high as the association is in a healthy state with more than RM111,000 in the account.
“When I took over in 2008, there was only RM2,000 in the account. Then Youth and Sports Ministry’s permanent secretary Michael Emban assured me that the grant which was held back due to inactivity by the association will be allocated with me at the helm.
“After introducing the Sabah Invitational Team Tennis tournament with my team of great officials, Sabah Tennis went full steam ahead for 17 years in promoting tennis at all levels as well as tourism for the State.
“During my time as president, we managed to host the ATF – Asia Tennis Federation age 14 and under tournament here in Sabah for the first time. The association also played its part to have a roof built on the four Likas tennis courts. I had also personally met up with three Federal Sports Ministers for the inclusion of tennis as a core sport in Sukma, which finally succeeded just before the Sarawak Sukma in 2023,” he added.
He also expressed his gratitude to the related Ministries, government agencies, media, players and their parents, and those who have given their support in the past, as well as offering his sincere apologies to those who may not have benefited or been offended by him.