KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) want discussions with the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) on the direction to be taken by the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) to be held as soon as possible.
“In talks held in 2017 and 2018, it was decided that students aged between 13 and 18 from the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) be transferred to the ABM to stay with the elite and back-up shuttlers. They were also supposed to continue their studies at ABM with the cooperation of the Education Ministry and the budget set aside was RM16 million,” said BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria.
“So, we wish to ask the KBS, under the new minister (Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman) to help us get the allocation so that we can run the academy as planned,” he told a press conference after chairing the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) executive board meeting today.
The local media reported today that the RM31 million-academy’s operations could not be fully carried out as the RM16 million allocation approved by the previous government for the period from 2019 to 2020 had not been disbursed.
Meanwhile, Norza, who is also the OCM president, said athletes from sports with no national associations or the associations were not members of OCM could still compete ini the SEA Games in the Philippines this November.
He told the affected athletes and associations to state their preferences to the OCM, apart from fulfilling the criteria set by the selection committee, which is led by him and also among others comprise representatives from the National Sports Council (NSC) and National Sports Institute (NSI).
Among the sports without an association or the associations are not members of OCM are underwater hockey, sambo, kurash, arnis, floorball and eSports. — Bernama
