KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 ― The National Sports Council (MSN) is disappointed with the accusations made by national disc thrower Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin against Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and regarded it as a reckless and inappropriate act.
MSN director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail in a statement today said the decisions the athlete was apparently unhappy with were not in any way based on directives issued by Syed Saddiq.
He said the decisions were taken during an Athletics Working Committee meeting which met on Tuesday, attended by Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) president Datuk Karim Ibrahim and national athletics head coach Zainal Abas as well as representatives of the National Sports Institue (NSI) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
“On Irfan's (Muhammad) allegation that KBS (Ministry of Youth and Sports)/MSN/MAF had terminated the contract of his personal trainer Frantisek Petrovic, it is not true.
“MSN did not offer a new contract to Frantisek following a discussion among MSN/NSI/OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia)/MAF through the Athletes and Coaches Selection Committee in December, which was based on Irfan's performance throughout 2018, especially at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” he said.
Yesterday, Muhammad Irfan, 23, vented his frustration via his Instagram account @irfan_sham, claiming that Syed Saddiq through the Ministry of Youth and Sports had terminated the contract of his personal trainer Frantisek Petrovic, and rejected an application to train on his own overseas.
On Muhammad Irfan's claim that his application to fund training programmes in the Czech Republic and Turkey for 85 days from January 23 to April 17 this year, Ahmad Shapawi said the matter was also discussed at the Working Committee meeting.
“The Working Committee has taken into consideration MAF's view that Irfan's proposal to practice overseas during the winter season needs to be scrutinised and re-discussed with the national athletics coach.
“The Working Committee had decided that the MAF, in particular Datuk Karim Ibrahim and national athletics head coach (Zainal Abas) will hold further discussions with Irfan, and I had also personally sent a text message to Irfan (over the matter),” he said.
Ahmad Shapawi said unfortunately, Muhammad Irfan decided to come out with the allegations even before the discussions took place, and what's even more disappointing is he blamed Syed Saddiq, who has worked hard to secure allocations for the development of sports in the country.
Meanwhile, Karim in a separate statement also expressed regret over Muhammad Irfan's accusations.
“It was a decision taken in the Athletics Working Committee meeting among MAF/MSN/OCM and ISN to review Muhammad Irfan's proposal for training in the Czech Republic during the 'conditioning period', which in MAF's view, is impractical, apart from the fact there is a lack of information on where exactly the training will take place and the level of expertise available there.
“The MAF regrets what happened, and we hope that Muhammad Irfan can remain patient over his demands as the decision has to be made collectively and together with other stakeholders.
“The MAF would like to apologise and take full responsibility for Muhammad Irfan's actions. The MAF also hopes that Muhammad Irfan withdraws the accusations and rediscusses (his plans) with the MAF for the consideration of the Athletics Working Committee,” he said. ― Bernama
