Decisions of PSM are made by the board - Hannah

PETALING JAYA: Any decision involving the Malaysia Stadium Corporation (PSM) can only be determined by the corporation's board of directors, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said this include the position of Datuk Hans Isaac who was appointed PSM chairman last June and his contract is expected to expire neat year.

"Hans Isaac has been appointed (chairman of PSM) for a period of two years, I believe that in PSM all decisions are made together with the board (PSM)," she said when met at a dialogue with media practitioners here, yesterday.

Recently, netizens, especially local football fans, criticised Hans' leadership as PSM chairman to the extent that some asked him to resign when the field at SNBJ was seen as unsatisfactory ahead of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Group D qualifiers between Harimau Malaya and Oman, which ended 0-2 in favour of the visiting team last night.

Hannah in a tweet on X on Monday said the field at SNBJ could be used after receiving the approval of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Match Commissioner although both teams are not allowed to undergo official training due to the weather that often rains in the afternoon and night recently. .

In the meantime, Hannah said PSM is looking for a new chief executive officer (CEO) after Mohd Faidz Sanusi's contract expired recently.

"The PSM CEO position is still open, anyone who is interested and resilient enough can apply as it is a hot seat," she said.

Meanwhile, Hannah said the Road to Gold (RTG) Committee is collaborating with the National Heart Institute (IJN) in conducting heart screening for athletes under the programme participating in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The RTG which was created last year is a national project to hunt for the country's first gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games as well as the 2028 edition in Los Angeles.

Asked if Malaysia was interested in hosting the 2038 Asian Games, Hannah said the Ministry of Youth and Sports' main focus at the moment is to invest in the sports ecosystem, including talent development at the grassroots level.

"It's useless if we host when our athletes don't win anything... it's better to 'pump' money into talent development," she said.

Previously, the media reported that UiTM Shah Alam's Faculty of Sports and Recreation Science Senior Lecturer, Mohd Sadek Mustafa, recommended that Malaysia could consider hosting the 2038 Asian Games if it still intends to host a high-level sports event after rejecting the offer of the Commonwealth Sports Federation (CGF) to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

-- BERNAMA