AFTER a crash triggered by a Japanese cyclist denied ‘last man standing’ Mohd Shah Firdaus Sahrom of a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Olympics, fuming Malaysians sports fans have trained their guns on the country’s spots authorities.
Topping the list is the call for Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh who had “prayed to bring home a special birthday gift (construed by sports fans as gold medal) from Paris” for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in conjunction with the latter’s 77th birthday to step down.
Kalau gagal, you resign tak? Takkan tak boleh tanya. pic.twitter.com/Piih9gSIC7
— Naratif Rakyat 🇲🇾 (@NaratifRakyat) August 10, 2024
Nevertheless, some rational-minded and far-sighted spirts fans were quick to counter that demanding the Segambut MP’s immediate resignation is not going to suddenly produce world class talents or solve the host of ills in Malaysian sports which is too deeply rooted.
The ultimate solution therefore is to identify the main cause “and prepare for LA28 (Los Angeles 2028 Olympics) starting NOW”.
After all, as some sports fans contended, “no BN (Barisan Nasional) sports minister had ever resigned during the coalition’s 50-year reign” despite failure to bring home a gold medal from the Olympics.
Elsewhere, the Road to Gold Paris (RTG) programme has also received its fair share of criticism for failing to deliver the country’s first gold despite the government having allocated RM20 mil under Budget 2024 to prepare Malaysia’s quest for its first Olympic gold.
“The RTG programme has only contributed one bronze only,” berated Lazar Fauzanović in a Facebook post. “Don’t be mistaken that Lee Zii Jia (national men’s single shuttler) had for a start didn’t participate in the RTG project.”
Added Lazar: “After umpteen years failing to manage football, how can people believe that the long-serving sports administrators can bring gold for the country? The RTG is a failure from the start. From the very beginning, the project only rode Badminton and Dato’ Jijoe (national track cyclist Datuk Azizulhasni Awang).”
Apart from Yeoh, other ‘dignitaries’ targeted by disgruntled Malaysian sports fans as “yet to extinct dinosaurs” include Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) resident Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president and chef de mission of the Malaysian Paris 2024 contingent Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin who is also the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president.
Others in the ‘hit list’ include OCM’s secretary-general Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib who is also the son of incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the RTG committee project coordinator Stuart Ramalingam who is also the Malaysian Football League (MFL) CEO.
As one avid badminton fan summed up, “end of the day, it was Zii Jia and his self-funded team that brought us a second bronze (after national men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik)”.
“A reminder to officials dictating who gets to go and blundering our chances,” she added. – Aug 12, 2024
End of the day it was Lee Zii Jia and his self funded team that brought us a second bronze. A reminder to officials dictating who gets to go and blundering our chances
Congrats and thank you https://t.co/vIClyRGz9f pic.twitter.com/MnqTDjL6Ic
— Loretta (@lorettabagg) August 11, 2024
Main image credit: Hannah Yeoh/Facebook
