PETALING JAYA: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) has issued a clarification regarding the issue of its president, Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, bringing his family to the 2024 Paris Olympics in France, reports Malay language news portal Majoriti.
The issue arose after claims that Norza had brought his family to the event, providing them with temporary accreditation cards, while some athletes had to compete without their support teams.
This led to an uproar among sports fans in the country, particularly badminton supporters, after it was reported that men's singles player Lee Zii Jia was denied the presence of a physiotherapist and sparring partner, while women's singles player Goh Jin Wei's coach Nova Armada could not be with her in Paris.
According to the report, Norza said he had a special quota as OCM president to bring guests to the event without affecting the allocation for athletes and officials.
Norza explained that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) permits each president and secretary-general of the Olympic councils of participating countries to bring guests in their capacity.
"The IOC provides additional accreditation cards for the president and secretary-general of each national Olympic committee. My family is here using this allocation which is specifically allocated, which only allows them to access VIP seating areas at arenas," he said.
"My family has been following me to attend badminton events for many years now. Every time they travel, I pay all their expenses myself," he said.
Norza, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, clarified that the expenses for his guests did not involve government funds.
"Most importantly, it does not use government funds," he was quoted as saying.
Norza also said he was serving as OCM and BAM president on a pro bono basis and personal attacks on him and his family were unwarranted.
"I just want to help bring glory and pride to our nation. I will be resigning from BAM soon, which many are aware of. I hope the next leader can improve the state of badminton in our country," he said.
