PETALING JAYA: The infamous Sheraton Move in 2020 has been one of the major contributing factors to athletes’ performance in recent games, says Youth and Sports minister Hannah Yeoh.
In a Star Online report, the minister said that some 220 athletes were affected over the past four years since the move which resulted in political instability that disrupted their training ahead of tournaments.
“Each time we change prime ministers and ministers, there would be changes to the board members, budget and focus.
“In 2022, there was no allocation for the Podium Programme forcing the Malaysian Sports Council (MSC) to rearrange its training programmes for several games,” she told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (May 25).
Yeoh also said that MSC was left with no choice but to use its own internal budget to pay coaches’ salaries and training allowances to avoid disruptions.
“I had a discussion with athletes and associations, and they admitted that in these four years, our country has been busy with politics while neighbouring countries have moved forward.
“We must admit that after the Sheraton Move, there were indeed many efforts that the government made at the time to help the economy, and education, all of which were disrupted due to political instability,” the minister added.
Yeoh was responding to a question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) who queried about the relationship between political instability and athletic performance including ways to deal with the matter.