Tunku Imran denies NSC’s allegations

KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have denied allegations made by the National Sports Council (NSC) that they were not consulted before the OCM submitted bidding documents to host the 2010 Asian Games. 

“Such allegations are false. We put in the bid with the approval from the NSC as we knew there was no way we could obtain the endorsement for government support before the deadline,” OCM president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja’afar said after chairing the OCM council meeting at Wisma OCM yesterday. 

Tunku Imran said OCM had to submit the bid documents to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) minus the endorsement for support from the Malaysian government as it was the general election period. 

He added that the bid was approved by the NSC management committee during a meeting. 

“There are two things that we (OCM) feel that the media had failed to highlight. One is about the cost (the media only mentioned the cost without the income) and the other was the alternative suggestion to use the Uniten or UPM campus as the Games Village, if there was no provision to build a new one.  

“The overall cost would be much lesser,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Tunku Imran also urged all sports associations to start their training programmes for the 2005 Manila SEA Games immediately. 

“They must start now. Our focus is no longer on the Olympic Games as not many sports associations are involved. Those sports in the Manila Games should start training now. If they want to start next year, I’m afraid it will be to late,” he said. – Bernama