Malaysian contingent will compete at Paris Olympics as one

PETALING JAYA: Irregardless of the outfits or who is responsible for the design, the national contingent will step foot in Paris as one, says Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh (pic).

She said when the national athletes head to the Paris Olympics next month, they will be representing Malaysia, not just the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS), or the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).

“When we get to Paris, we walk as one team and people won’t see it as OCM or Sports Ministry, we’re bringing Malaysia’s name,” she said at the National Women’s Football League’s launch at Lalaport Bukit Bintang City Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Hannah said she doesn’t want any friction between her ministry and OCM and trusts that president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria will do the best to resolve the team’s outfit conundrum for Paris, which has received negative feedback.

“Norza has been notified of our views, and I’m sure they can solve this problem well. We have to respect their sponsorship agreement with Yonex,” said Hannah.

“I also want to remind the public that this is not the parade uniforms as those are different, we already have that for our athletes.

At the same time, Hannah added that Paris Olympics chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin is not to be blamed for the team’s outfit and that he had been doing his duties at his utmost best.

“Hamidin is not the cause of this, so why blame him? He is not a perfect leader, none of us are.

“He listens and is someone who contributes and has consultative leadership. When I told him that the women’s league needed more support, he made improvements.

“He has done the best he can with the resources and challenges he has faced,” she said.

The league for women will have eight teams competing, two more than last season, and will go on for five months starting July 7.

Hannah praised Hamidin, who is the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president, and women’s football committee head Datuk Suraya Yaacob, for their focus into developing women’s football in the country.

“Last year we had six, now we have eight. Hopefully, there will be more in the coming years. The budget given by FAM to the league has increased and I hope it continues because the market potential is huge,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hannah has urged the police to speed up the investigation process into Faisal Halim’s acid attack.

“I urge the police to speed things up so we can go to the next stage of the case because Faisal is a national asset,” said Hannah.

Faisal suffered an acid attack on May 5 by unknown assailants at a mall and is now recovering from his injuries.