Passing of Budget 2021: Sports associations relieve prog can go on

KUALA LUMPUR: Several sports associations can heave a sigh of relief as they can implement their programmes for coming competitions with Budget 2021 passed at policy level after a debate at Dewan Rakyat.

Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the focus of the governing body is the qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, 31st SEA Games in Vietnam as well as the badminton development programmes at grassroots level.

"We are confident the Road to Tokyo programme would proceed as usual apart from our focus on 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam as well as empowering development programmes.

"I understand the government has devoted this budget to plans on assisting those who were affected following the COVID-19 pandemic, but the government did not marginalise the interests of the sports industry," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

At the same time, he said BAM would wait for the second debate which would involve Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican soon before giving details on plans for several tournaments next year.

Sharing the view was the Malaysia Rugby Union (MRU) president Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya who revealed that the governing body would focus on the existing rugby development programmes apart from preparing the national squad for any championships next year.

"We will continue the development programme and have close cooperation with the ministry, National Sports Council, National Sports Institute as well as Education Ministry, Higher Education Ministry and private partners to achieve the set goals," he said.

Also having the same view was the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) president Datuk Abu Samah Abdul Wahab who stressed that the focus of the governing body was its preparation for 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well as the 2021 SEA Games through the allocations under Budget 2021.

He said MNCF would be utilising part of the allocation to empower track cycling which has consistently delivered successes in international arena.

Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz when tabling Budget 2021 at Dewan Rakyat on Nov 7, announced four high performance sports namely rugby, badminton, hockey and cycling would be receiving an allocation amounting to RM55 million.

The 2021 Supply Bill will be debated at committee level for 11 days from Monday (Nov 30).

-- BERNAMA