James in hot demand

KUALA LUMPUR: Former badminton international Datuk James Selvaraj is certainly a hot property right now.
 
Following his long years of service as a player, coach, administrator and corporate figure, James has been appointed as the new board member of the National Sports Council (NSC) and he started his job by attending his first meeting on Tuesday.

NSC’s director general Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong said that the former Thomas Cupper was appointed by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. He came in as a replacement for Malaysian Netball Association president Datuk Suraya Yaacob who opted out. 

“It is a good move. With his experience as an athlete and a corporate figure, we hope that he can contribute ideas to help us in developing sports,” said Zolkples. 

The other members of the board include Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar,Tan Sri Mohd Noordin Hassan, ministry’s deputy secretary-general Datuk Zaidon Asmuni, Sabah’s assistant Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim, BA of Malaysia deputy president Datuk Al-Amin Majid, Softball Association of Malaysia president Datuk Low Beng Choo, treasury representative Hassan Ahmad and Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) president Ahmad Khawari Isa.

James was honoured with the appointment and has vowed to give his undying commitment to improve the status of Malaysian sports. 

There could be more roles for James to play. He is now one of the candidates considered for key positions in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). 

James, who is currently the Bata Malaysia’s senior manager, was appointed as the High Performance Director by the BAM in 2010 but he was unable to perform his duties as he was not given full power to execute some of his plans.