Shoorendran gets rare help to ride on but sad demise for Sapura

IT was certainly music to my ears when I received a wonderful message from S. Nageswaran, the dad to equestrian rider Shoorendran.

He informed with much excitement that the RM150,000 that they had been waiting for, had been banked in.

What a relief it was as Shoorendran can now compete in the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September without having to worry about the finances.

The RM150,000 was not plucked from the sky but it came straight from the pocket of a kind benefactor who just happened to share the same love for horses as the 30-year-old Asian Games hopeful.

Shoorendran had to give up on his Asian Games debut in Indonesia back in 2018 because his horse was injured with a month to go and it would have certainly been heartbreaking if he had to miss the action the second time around because of lack of funds.

The Equestrian Association of Malaysia (EAM) had jumped in to help and did their part by contributing RM100,000 but Shoorendran had to cough up another RM150,000 on his own.

Altogether, it would cost RM250,000 for him and his horse to see action at the Asiad and he needed to come up with the money fast before the deadline for final registration of athletes by the Olympic Council of Malaysia, which closes today.

Shoorendran is certainly a very lucky man as his plight caught the attention of horse enthusiast Datuk Carl Gunnar Myhre, who is also the executive chairman of a public listed real estate investment agency.

His prayer for help was answered swiftly.

Yes, it’s one rare happy ending story but there have been numerous pleas for funding that fell on deaf ears in the past.

While Shoorendran is grateful for the new lease of life, it was not the case for Sapura Cycling Team as they suffered a sad demise without anyone stepping in to help.

The Malaysian team that were once ranked No. 1 in the UCI Asia Tour and two-time yellow jersey winners (in 2019 and 2020) had to close shop as they could not find a new sponsor.

Sapura ended their sponsorship for the UCI continental team in February and team founder Sayuti Zahit had to give up after he had exhausted all avenues for help.

They had sent proposals to nearly 500 companies since February but with little success.

It’s certainly a sorry end to a team that had produced many national cyclists since they were first set up in 2017. Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG) are the only UCI continental team from Malaysia remaining.

The country certainly do not lack big corporate companies and tycoons with deep pockets.

But the reality on the ground is, they do not look at sports as a marketing and branding tool.

The country’s billionaires will rather invest in overseas teams competing in the English football league and Formula 1 while it could only cost them a fraction of the amount to support sports entities in Malaysia.

Even the Kuala Lumpur football team, who have won the Malaysia Cup numerous times, are struggling to find sponsors every year, and that says a lot about how hard it is to get sponsors to commit for the long term.

But maybe it could also be due to the lack of trust in the way how sports is run in Malaysia.

It is undeniable professionalism is still an alien word to many national sports associations here.

If a corporate company is to invest in a certain sport, they would surely want to have a say in how their money is being spent.

But if the lack of transparency still prevails, don’t expect things to be rosy.