Monday May 9, 2005
BANGI: The Malaysian Taekwondo Association, who were de-registered last Friday, are in the midst of sorting out their differences with the Sports Commissioner's office and they have about a month to do so.
But there is no doubt the exponents, especially the ones in the national team, will be the ones to suffer if things are not resolved by then.
There is a plan for a training stint in South Korea at the end of the month but national head coach R. Dhanaraj said yesterday that they might have to call it off.
“The plan was to sent the exponents we have identified as medal prospects for the SEA Games (in Manila in November) to train in Seoul for about two months,” he said.
“They were also down to compete in the Korean Open. It looks like we have to forget about it or postpone it to a later date if the states are willing to fund the exponents.”
Eight exponents – three men and five women – were down for the stint in South Korea.
The three men are Rusfredy Petrus, Syed Taufik, and R. Surendran while the five women are National Sportswoman of the Year Elaine Teo, Che Chew Chan, Nornadia Norrizan, Noordiana Norrizan and Busan Asian Games bronze medallist Lee Pei Fen.
Of the eight, Elaine and Chew Chan are under the 2006 elite programme for the Asian Games.
On Friday, Sports Commissioner Tan Sri Elyas Omar made the decision to de-register the association under Section 20 (1) of the Sports Development Act 1997.
The MTA, who are affiliated to the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), have been given 30 days from Friday to make an appeal against the decision.
The MTA, who have 17 affiliates and 49 associate members, ran into problems last year because the associate members did not have voting rights.
The associate members then tried to fight for their rights by forming “associate clubs of MTA” and “associate clubs committee”.
The association have ceased to exist for the time being. But if things dragged longer than one month, the athletes in the national team based at National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil may even have to move out.
The worst scenario is that Malaysia may not have a taekwondo team in the SEA Games.
Source from http://www.thestar.com.my
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