Cast your votes wisely, MS affiliates, and don’t let the sport sink further

CHOOSE wisely. That will be my plea as affiliates from the Malaysia Swimming Federation (MS) gather today in Kuala Lumpur to decide who will be part of the committee for the next term 2023-2025.

It’s an important day – a day that will determine the future of the sport, currently clouded with many uncertainties and lack of results.

Old-timer Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has won the president’s post unopposed and no one can do anything about that, but there will be contests in all the remaining positions.

There has been growing dissatisfaction with the waning interest in the sport and the lack of development work on the ground for the respective aquatic disciplines.

There have been calls for a more inclusive and transparent committee that can look after the well-being of the state affiliates better.

There has been a noticeable decline in swimming standards over the last few years as seen from the performance at the last two SEA Games where we only managed to win one out of the 39 golds on offer.

We can now only depend on one or two swimmers to shoulder the challenge for gold while it is depressing to see the country having no representation in some of the final events.

It is unfair really for one or two athletes to carry the burden of expectations but that is the reality that we are facing in Malaysian swimming.

But we should take heed of what Albert Enstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

We need to be sane and take different approaches apart from what is currently being done in the national set-up and development of aquatics disciplines.

It’s not just swimming as Malaysia are also losing ground in diving.

Malaysia used to be the undisputed second best team behind China in Asian diving but South Korea and Japan have been threatening to overtake us in recent years.

Malaysia had no representatives in the men’s diving competition at the last Olympics in Tokyo.

On the other hand, Woo Ha-ram of South Korea came close to bagging a historic Olympic medal when he placed fourth in the men’s 3m springboard final in Tokyo.

Japan also have a young star in the men’s 10m platform in Rikuto Tamai, who is only 16 but is already a silver medallist from the world championships in Budapest last year.

At the SEA Games level, Malaysia are still unchallenged in the sport but there are concerns that this will change once Singapore start reaping the fruits from a well-planned development programme.

Jonathan Chan and Freida Lim made history as the first two Singaporean divers to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo and our neighbours down south have shown intent to be dominant in diving as how they have been in swimming.

In short, our hope is for the affiliates of MS to cast their votes for candidates who can work together to strengthen the development efforts in the sport.

While we hope they will make the right choice, I also hope cycling fans will make the right move by making their way to Nilai to watch track cyclist Azizulhasni Awang and company fight for glory in the Asian Championships at the National Velodrome.

Azizul’s pet keirin race is today and it will be the last time we will probably see him go on full gas in our own backyard as he has indicated that he will retire after the Paris Olympics next year.

Thus, the Asian meet this year holds a special significance for the 35-year-old as it will be his last one.

Just like Lee Chong Wei in badminton and Nicol David in squash, Azizul is also a once-in-a-generation kind of athlete that Malaysia will probably never have again.