After the ups and downs, let’s hope new year and minister bring better news

IF Malaysian sports this year can be described in one word, what would that be? Good? Bad? Awesome? Hopeless?

And what if it was to be summed up in one sentence? “Yes, it’s been a great year? No, it just the same lah! Our sports will not change?”

Or would it be: “I don’t care!”

As the busy year of 2022 comes to a close, it may not be too wrong to say that it has been all of the above.

The year has been quite spectacular in some ways and disappointing in some. Some sports faced unexpected curveballs along the way too.

After years of criticism and brickbats, Malaysia finally witnessed their first badminton world champions in men’s doubles players Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik while para shuttler and reigning world champion Cheah Liek Hou continued to dominate. Still, that ultimate joy - winning the Thomas Cup Finals - was denied us in Bangkok.

Instead India, once minnows of the game, nailed their maiden Cup.

For Malaysia, the forlorn wait for the Cup since the euphoric victory of 1992 goes on.

The junior shuttlers faced challenges over last three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and, as a result, showed they are not quite there yet. They came home empty-handed from the world junior meet.

Football welcomed a new head coach Kim Pan-gon at the start of the year and there were immediate results under the South Korean. The Harimau Malaya ended an excruciating 42-year wait by qualifying on merit for the Asian Cup in June.

But the truth is: we are far, far behind the other Asian countries like South Korea and Japan. They are putting up strong showings in the ongoing World Cup in Qatar and we are just glad to make it into the Asian Cup.

Then, there is 18-year-old Mohd Azeem Fahmi, who set a new national record of 10.09s during the world juniors in Cali, Colombia.

The lad, who went on to score 6As in his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), will begin his new journey at the Auburn University in the United States next month with a mission to excel both in his studies while becoming the first Malaysian to dip below 10s. Indeed, he is the pride and joy of the nation.

Hockey under coach A. Arulselvaraj lifted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup for the first time in 39 years, and are showing promise ahead of next month’s World Cup in India. They just need to overcome the injury woes in the team right now.

Malaysia also wrapped up their campaign in the SEA Games (39-45-90) and Commonwealth Games (7-8-8) with mixed results, finishing in sixth and 10th spots respectively . There have been young faces coming to the fore in diving, cycling, gymnastics but finishing one rung below Singapore in the SEA Games was a bitter pill to swallow.

In the Malaysia Games (Sukma), Johor emerged as the overall champions but the lack of quality, especially in the athletics, was a big concern.

States should rely more on unearthing new talents instead of just trying to rack up medals with the national athletes.

There have been pockets of achievements too by several other sports like squash, table tennis, bowling and para athletes but infighting and problems within the other associations still remain.

Malaysia Rugby for instance, became the latest victim, when an officials was said to have embezzled almost RM1mil since 2019 right under the nose of the leadership.

Police reports have been made. But what’s new about that?

There have been other police reports on other sports associations for similar offences but most of the time, the money is not retrieved and the culprit is not exposed.

Those who are out for their own selfish gains need to be exposed and thrown out of the sports. They are a disruption to what most of us want – a thriving environment at the elite and grassroots level.

We can look to the Australian model – the Aussies have a good sports culture and governance at the base, excellent results at the top level and their leaders run programmes professionally with integrity and without excessive politicking.

The same old problems are still here so even the few good achievements have only led to a year of ups and downs.

So for the new year, I have my own one word – “hopeful”.

I hope the new Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh will identify the changes that are needed in the right order of priority and have the courage to change the things that need to be changed.

She also has to be mindful of the many who will try to “bodek” (apple-polish) for their own agenda.

I am hopeful that our sports landscape will be free of abuse of power, corruption and injustice.

And I really hope our athletes know that they are special, appreciated and will keep fighting hard like former greats Lee Chong Wei, Nicol David, Shalin Zulkifli and current star Azizulhasni Awang.

Azizul is special – he won a silver in a recent tournament even after undergoing open heart surgery.

That’s what we need – athletes who will perform with all their heart.