KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — A former Olympic medallist from Poland has decided against accepting a job offer to coach Malaysia’s national swimming team, partly due to Putrajaya’s decision to deny entry to Israeli athletes.

Bart Kizierowski’s appointment was announced by the National Sports Council and the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) last week, but the former swimmer will not be starting work in Bukit Jalil after Chinese New Year as initially planned, local daily The Star reported.

Kizierowski reportedly wrote on Facebook that he was offered "a very attractive coaching position from the Malaysian Swimming Federation”.

"Among other personal reasons, I declined that function due to recent statements made by Malaysian politicians regarding refusal of visa for athletes that are supposed to compete at the World Championships organised by that country. There is no place for that in sport.

"I also want to thank the swimming community in Malaysia that showed me trust and gave me that opportunity,” the 41-year-old was quoted saying in his Facebook post.

A check by Malay Mail showed that the Facebook post was posted on January 24.

The Star reported Kizierowski as a former World Championships medallist for Poland in the men’s 50m freestyle category, and had represented Poland in the Olympics four times since 1996 before becoming a coach.

The local daily also said he was coaching in Spain when offered the Malaysian job.

The International Olympic Committee’s website has an entry on him as "Bartosz Kizierowski”, with participation listed for the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.

According to The Star, Asum secretary Mae Chen was caught by surprise by Kizierowski’s decision, with ex-US national swimming coach Chris Martin possibly taking on the role of coaching Malaysian swimmers temporarily.

"We will have to look for a new coach. Martin will probably be asked to come in as the interim coach but we will have to discuss with NSC first on what are the options,” Chen was quoted saying.

Last November, The Star reported that Martin was among the top four candidates presented by Asum to NSC for the position of head coach for the national swimming programme at Bukit Jalil, to fill in for Australian Paul Birmingham Thomas who left his decade-long position after the Asian Games last August.

It was then reported then that any appointment involving Martin would hinge on whether the NSC was agreeable, in light of budget cuts for sports.

On January 27, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) stripped Malaysia of the right to host the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships that was slated to be held in Sarawak this July, due to Putrajaya’s ban on Israel athletes’ participation in the sports event.

Expressing its disappointment and stating that "politics and sport are never a good mix”, the IPC said it had no choice but to seek new hosts when a host country excludes athletes from a country due to "political reasons”.

The IPC said it will be looking for a new host country for the World Para Swimming Championships, which it said is a "vital” event as its acts as a qualifier to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Kuching, Sarawak was initially set to host the World Para Swimming Championships from July 29 till August 4, with about 600 swimmers from around 60 nations including Israel originally slated for participation with 160 titles up for grabs.

But due to Malaysia not having any diplomatic relations with Israel because of a pro-Palestine stance, Israelis cannot enter Malaysia and vice versa.

In a separate report today by local daily Sinar Harian, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman reportedly said Malaysia’s decision to deny entry to Israeli athletes would not impact the country’s sports development.

"I’m quite confident from the aspect of sports development, it will continue to be smooth as this is a stand that Malaysia has long taken before this; we have organised various types of sports and also international activities.

"The main reason is because the Palestine land is very close to the hearts of Malaysians and not just a Muslim issue. This is a humanitarian issue and is closely seen by all regardless of race and religion,” he was quoted saying.

Local daily Berita Harian separately reported today minister Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa as saying that the Malaysian Cabinet had known of the risks of denial of entry to Israeli athletes, but decided to proceed.

"When we discussed this matter in Cabinet, we already knew the risk that would potentially arise. We in Cabinet took this risk with open hearts to state our stand towards the Israeli regime,” he was quoted saying, viewing Malaysia’s entry ban to Israelis as relatively small in comparison to Israel’s treatment of Muslims in Palestine which he said included killing, intrusion and land grabs.

"We took the risk to defend the dignity and good name of Islam,” the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the Religion portfolio said.