Pesaka wants more silat athletes in Podium Programme

The National Silat Federation (Pesaka) aspires to have more national silat athletes in the Podium Programme to help Malaysia win its first gold medal at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Its secretary-general, Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin said the national silat athletes must be given more places in the programme because they consistently produced positive results on the international stage.

"The five silat athletes currently in the Podium Programme have produced positive results. We want to add more silat athletes because we are set to face the 2018 SEA Games in Indonesia."

Megat Zulkarnain said this when met by reporters after attending a 2017 Referee and Jury Course which was opened by Pesaka president Tan Sri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, here Thursday.

A total 76 judges from seven ASEAN nations, namely, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam and Brunei are taking part in the five-day course starting Thursday.

Megat Zulkarnain also supported the statement by National Sports Institute (ISN) chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi for more stringent selection process for national athletes who wanted to be absorbed into the Podium Programme.

"I agree with what he had said, only that we must study properly because the programme is the best. Regardless, I suggest that we study the implications on the decision made, but I don't feel any athlete will use certain channels to be in the Podium Programme," he stressed.

Abdul Azim, via a newspaper report today, announced that ISN would tighten the selection process to the Podium Programme, namely, only athletes and teams who are capable of helping Malaysia to be in the top 10 group in the medal positions in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games will be picked.

A point counting system, which would become the benchmark to evaluate the performance of athletes, would also be introduced to facilitate ISN in evaluating the progress of athletes in the Podium Programme.

Five national silat athletes in the Podium Programme are Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari, Siti Rahmah Mohamed Nasir, Mohd Fauzi Khalid, Mohd Razak Ghazali and Siti Umairah Zabidin.

-- BERNAMA