Lackadaisical MAAU wastes a good chance

Devinder Singh -

THERE is little hope for a revival in Malaysian athletics after the same few athletes again dominated the headlines at the Malaysian Open over the weekend in Bukit Jalil.

The likes of Noraseela Khalid and Lee Hup Wei were the saving grace for a mediocre meet fast losing its prestige if the turnout is any indication.

Despite the meet being the last chance for national athletes to qualify for the Laos Sea Games, there were no breakthrough performances.

Sarawak's Jironi Riduan, 23, was the only addition to the list of athletes who have qualified for the Sea Games on merit, although his qualification in the 800 metres was no surprise.

Noraseela Khalid was untested at the Malaysian Open over the weekend.

That only 13 athletes have met the Sea Games Category A qualification mark is testimony itself to the eroding landscape of Malaysian track and field.

Melinder Kaur, 21, was the only athlete to come close to rewriting a national record, falling short in the women's 3,000m steeplechase by 0.06 seconds although the event is fairly new to Malaysians, hence the low benchmark.

But what troubled some observers was the lackadaisical attitude of the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) to its own meet.

MAAU deputy president Karim Ibrahim said several times in the media that the National Sports Council had scuttled some of MAAU's plans by refusing to send its athletes overseas for competitions.

This came in the heat of the H1N1 influenza outbreak but now that MAAU was hosting an international event of its own, the national body squandered an opportunity to test its athletes.

With the exception of the men's 4x100m, MAAU did not bother to form teams to contest any of the other relays.

The women's 4x100m was scrapped while only two men's teams and three women's teams contested the 4x400m, and none were from the host country.

MAAU missed the chance to test the national quartet who will be defending the 4x400m gold medal in Laos against their main rivals Thailand and Indonesia.

Perhaps, MAAU officials wanted to keep their options a secret from prying eyes but then it is pointless to complain of lack of competitions when they fail to take advantage of a run in their own backyard.

"It broke my heart when I saw that were no Malaysian teams running in the 4x400m," said 1967 Seap Games marathon runner John David Pillai, who sat in the stands watching the action, or lack of it, in disbelief.

As it stands, Malaysia can only be assured of gold medals in Laos from Noraseela (400m hurdles), Yuan Yu Fang (women's 20km walk), Tan Song Hwa (women's hammer), Roslinda Samsu (women's pole vault), Hup Wei (men's high jump) and either Teoh Boon Lim or Lo Choon Seang (men's 20km walk).