Sports, Athletes Dropped As OCM Crack The Whip On Non-Performers

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent's failure to achieve the measly seven-gold target at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games saw a number of sports and hundreds of athletes lose their passage to the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

In tandem with a call by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar who wanted the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to enforce a stringent selection process, two sports and hundreds of athletes were dropped, two sports were demoted to category B and four sports decided to withdraw.

Cycling (road race) was dropped together with triathlon while the men's and women's hockey teams that have been riding on Category A ticket all these years were demoted to Category B.

The number of shooters were also slashed from the list of 24 to eight while canoe, fencing, golf and tennis decided to withdraw in view of the stringent criteria applied by the OCM.

OCM President Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar said the number of athletes and sports was slashed following a call by Khairy during a Commonwealth Games post-mortem meeting Tuesday to weed out sports and athletes that did not perform or live up to expectations.

"It is quite a drastic cut in line with what was suggested and what was discussed in yesterday's meeting. This is the final team that will be going (to Asian Games). All entries close on Friday and tomorrow we will be submitting the names to Incheon.

"We were surprised that we have slashed one third of the initial number. We have told the sports associations that we will review the performance of their athletes who did not live up to expectation in Glasgow will now be in B category like hockey or not selected at all (in Asian Games).

"And for those who are going (to Asian Games) they should understand that the expectation is very high and they really have to deliver, including those under Category B.

"If not their national associations will have to pay for the bill," he told reporters after chairing the OCM exco meeting, in Kuala Lumpur, Wednesday.

The OCM also requested sports under Category B to place a deposit before being allowed to participate.

"If they are in Category B, they have to give us the money in advance and then only they can go, and we will reimburse them if they achieve the target," he said.

After dropping a number of sports and the decision by some sports to withdraw, the Malaysian contingent to Inchoen would comprise 365 athletes and officials and headed by Chef-de-Mission Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah.

Malaysia will be participating in 24 of the 36 sports contested, namely aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, bowling, boxing, cricket, track cycling, equestrian, football, gymnastics, hockey (men and women), kabaddi, karate, rugby, sailing, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, beach volleyball, weightlifting and wushu.

--BERNAMA