KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — The Harimau Malaya squad can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS), the National Security Council (MKN) and Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have agreed to allow them to hold a quarantine-based training camp at the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said in a statement that the training venue at the NSC in Bukit Jalil had proper facilities for the national squad to prepare for the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup second round qualifiers to be held in March.
“Following discussions with the FAM president (Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin), I see that they can use the NSC premises as their training centre because it not only has the facilities but is also convenient to operate in terms of using the quarantine-based approach compared to other venues,” he said.
The training centre can house about 40 people, including the panel of coaches, officials and players who will be starting their training session soon.
The national team, under head coach Tan Cheng Hoe, were previously scheduled to start training on Saturday (Jan 16) but had to shelve their plans after Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were among the states to be placed under the movement control order (MCO) from Jan 13-26 to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Malaysia are well-placed to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup Finals as they are currently second in the Group G standings of the 2022 World Cup/2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers after collecting nine points from five matches.
In another development, Reezal Merican said national athletes undergoing the Podium Programme training, including the national para and back-up athletes, would continue to train as usual using the quarantine-bsaed approach.
“We managed to get the green light from the MKN because we will be carrying out centralised training using the quarantine-based approach and with strict compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOP),” he said.
So far, about 632 athletes, coaches and officials from 28 sports are undergoing training at five centralised training venues, namely the NSC Complex in Bukit Jalil, the NSC Complex in Taman Keramat, Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara, National Sailing Training Centre in Langkawi and the Velodrome in Nilai. — Bernama
