KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Columnist Ridhuan Tee Abdullah's claim that Malaysian athletes were "ultra kiasu” and motivated purely by financial rewards is a remark borne of ignorance, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

According to the youth and sports minister, Tee had no inkling of the sacrifices that sportsmen make for their field and country.

He also rebuked the columnist for calling local athletes "ultra kiasu”, a term the latter regularly uses as a pejorative against the Chinese community and DAP supporters.

"It is an insult to the athletes. I take that his statement is highly inaccurate. I am also disappointed and angry. He does not know the athletes as how I do and they are not as what he claims them to be.

"It is better that he does not make any more such statements,” Khairy was quoted as saying by The Star Online news portal.

Tee wrote in a column published by Sinar Harian on Monday questioning the apparent celebration of Datuk Lee Chong Wei's performance at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games as well as the rewards that followed.

He further wrote that the same attention was not given to athletes of other ethnicities, particular from the Malay community.

Tee then claimed that "ultra kiasu” athletes were only interested in individual sports as they could reap more benefits as teams would have to share the rewards among all players, and blamed this for the decline in team-based sports here.