Bryan: MSF often has to act as an intermediary to address the participation shortage through the ‘loaning’ of athletes.
THE shortage of diving athletes at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) level is not new, says former national diver Bryan Nickson Lomas.
“The Malaysian Swimming Federation (MSF) has had to act as an intermediary to address the shortage through the ‘loaning’ of athletes,” said Bryan, who is now MSF technical director.
“The loaning method is necessary to continue diving events that are not well received due to the lack of talents from several state contingents, as less focus is given to such sports,” he said.
He was responding to the axing of two women’s events – 10m platform diving and futsal – from the 21st Sukma due to lack of participation.
The Sukma this year will be held in Kuching, Sarawak, in August.
Sarawak Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the two events were scrapped due to a requirement that there must be at least six participating state contingents for an event to be included.
Abdul Karim: Women’s 10m platform diving event at Sukma axed as there were fewer than six states participating.
Bryan said the loaning method could only be implemented if the participating states and sports council directors agree to it.
“The reaction is mixed, with some agreeing and others being less supportive.
“Coaches usually dislike this loaning method.
“During the negotiation process, everyone needs to agree on many aspects.
“Khairul and I only suggest,” said Bryan, referring to MSF high performance director Khairul Safwan Mansur.
“However, some do not accept the suggestion because it involves budgets and there is no guarantee that a borrowed athlete can bring medals for their respective states.
“Although loaning rarely happens, it is necessary for sports development and perhaps it should be continued,” he told Majoriti, Star Media Group’s Malay news portal, when met at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.
Bryan said contingents such as Sarawak, which produces many talented diving athletes, are usually generous in lending their athletes to other state teams.
He said the method of loaning athletes has been used before in previous Sukma editions to allow diving events that had low participation, to be included.
However, the athlete loaning method is not being utilised in the 21st Sukma this year, possibly because no agreement was reached among states.
“Some states did not register as they did not have athletes,” said Bryan.
“However, there are coaches who said that they wanted to register their athletes but the state sports council director disagreed because they were not confident of winning medals.
“Only these two parties know what really happened.”
It is understood that Pahang and Penang are among the four states willing to compete. As there are not enough states competing, the women’s 10m platform event at Sukma Sarawak has been cancelled.
Bryan also said the current criterion was too high.
“At SEA Games, the participation of two countries is sufficient for an event to be contested, while at Asian Games, it’s four countries,” he highlighted.
“However, Sukma (a biennial event) requires six states to contest.
“This is a significant difference between domestic and global championships.
“In the interest of sports development, that number needs to be reduced,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that a diving event in which Malaysia won Olympic medals, will not be contested in Sukma.
Pandelela won a bronze medal in the women’s 10m platform event at the 2012 London Olympics. — Filepic
Malaysia won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics through the nation’s diving queen, Datuk Pandelela Rinong.
Four years later at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Pandelela and her teammate Cheong Jun Hoong won a silver medal in the synchronised 10m platform event.
Malaysia failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics for the first time after having consistently participated in diving since the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
