Setting specific SEA Games marks can be limiting for athletes and sports, says Nurul Huda

PETALING JAYA: Setting specific medal targets can be limiting for national athletes and the sport as well, says Thailand SEA Games chef de mission (CDM) Nurul Huda Abdullah.

Speaking from her past experience as a former swimmer, Nurul said setting coloured medal targets can stress out an athlete, and the results might not reflect their true performance potential because of it.

“From my experience as an athlete, I did have medal targets to achieve and I can assure you that it is quite stressful,” said Nurul during the SEA Games teqball team training yesterday.

“Imagine in swimming, the difference between first, second, and third can be tenths of a second.

“So does that mean that the athlete isn’t given support because they didn’t win a gold medal, and just because they came in third by 0.01s?

“No. So I think this approach allows us to see overall how each sport has progressed from edition to edition, be it the SEA Games, Asian Games, or the Olympics.”

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh had said that this year’s SEA Games medal target will be an overall medal number instead of specific coloured medals.

The method, coming from the Nippon Sports Science University in Japan, had been tested out during the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, and athletes responded well to it.

Nurul added that specific medal targets could also be detrimental to the sport in the long run if athletes come up short.

“We have to look at the bigger picture overall at a Games and less on each individual edition.

“Just because at one particular edition, a sport or an athlete may perform below expectations, that doesn’t mean that the sport should be dropped from any programme or get reduced funding.

“What is important is that the funding continues and that support is given to the sport so that they can improve and see what needs to be done so they can move forward.

“It takes many years to develop an athlete. It’s not something that we can pull off in three or six months.

“It takes years, and for that to happen, you need to have continuous funding.

“So I do support the overall target idea that has been proposed and agreed by all,” she said.