OCM Weekly Highlights - 3rd August 2008

Coming Events

The ACC Trophy Elite 2008 – 25^th July to 3^rd August 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For details go to www.malaysiacricket.com.

Flag Raising Ceremony for Malaysian Contingent – 4^th August 2008 in Athletes’ Village in Beijing.

Official Visit of SPB Yang DiPertuan Agong to Athletes Village of Malaysian Contingent in Beijing – 9^th August 2008.

XIX Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – 8^th to 24^th August 2008 at Beijing.

9th AKF Junior & Cadets Karate Championships 2008 - from 24 - 30 August 2008, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 12^th World Sport for All Congress 2008 – 3^rd to 6^th November 2008 at Genting Highlands.

News Items

Departure Dates of Malaysian Contingent to Beijing

With only 5 days to the Opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, members of the Malaysian Contingent have been departing to Beijing by groups. The first to depart for Beijing were Enck Fong Wan Hor and Encik Ariffin Ghani who left in the early hours of 28^th July by MH370. Chef de mission, Y.Bhg. Dato’ Ho Koh Chye was the next to leave on 31^st July by MH378. The flight schedules of the other members of the Malaysian Contingent are as follows:

3 August at 0900 hour by MH378 – 2 Secretariat members, 4 members of the Medical team, Archery, Swimming and Diving teams, and Shooting Team manager.

4 August at 0030 hour by MH370 – 2 participants of the Olympic Youth Camp, and Archery Team Manager.

5 August at 0030 hour by MH370 – Badminton and Weightlifting teams.

6 August at 0030 hour by MH370 – Team Manager and Mechanic of Cycling team.

11 August at 0900 hour by MH378 – Shooting team.

13 August at 0030 hour by MH370 – Athletics team.

17 August at 0900 hour by MH378 – Taekwondo team.

Power – Official Track Shoes of the Malaysian Olympic Contingent Press Launch

The official launch of POWER – Official Track Shoes and BATA – Official shoes of the Malaysian Contingent was conducted by Y.Bhg. Datuk Dr. M Jegathesan, Deputy President of OCM on 29^th July 2008 at the OCM Museum at Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur.

Official Launch of ‘Declare Your Loyalty, Malaysia!’ Microsite

The Official Launch of the ‘Declare Your Loyalty, Malaysia’ organised by TM was held on 29^th July 2009 at Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. The Launch was conducted by HRH Tan Sri Prince Imran ibni Tuanku Ja’afar.

8^th RSC Tiger & 6^th RSC Under 12 International Soccer 7’s Tournament

The Royal Selangor Club (RSC) organised the 8^th RSC Tiger & 6^th RSC Under 12 International Soccer 7’s Tournament on 2^nd and 3^rd August 2008. The tournament was held at the Annex of RSC at Bukit Kiara. There were three categories, the Under 12 years old tournament, with 24 teams, the Masters (over 40 years) tournament with 16 teams and the Grand Masters (over 50 years) tournament with 12 teams.

YAM Tunku Tan Sri Imran ibni Tuanku Ja’afar officially declared opened, the Tournament on 2^nd August 2008. After two days of friendly, yet very competitive tournament, the final results are as follows:

Under 12 years old – Bintang Biru defeated the Royal Selangor Club ‘Tigers’ with a score of 1 goal to 0, to become the Champion and Runner-Up respectively.

Masters - Singapore Malays defeated Melody Jaya with a score of 1 goal to 0, to become the Champion and Runner-Up respectively.

Grand Masters – Hong Kong Star defeated Singapore Recreation Club with a score of 2 goals to 1, to become the Champion and Runner-Up respectively.

The tournament was well attended and supported, by parents, volunteers, supporters and sponsors.

Talk on ‘Sport Development in Malaysia!’

Y.Bhg. Mej. Gen. (R) Dato’ Shahrudin Mohd Ali, who represented the Federation of Malaya in Athletics at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games in 100m event, presented a talk to Council Members of OCM, on Sports Development in Malaysia on 26^th July 2008.

His talk briefly covered the following topics:-

How he took up athletics?

How he became a sprint champion?

Why did he retire from athletics at such a young age?

Why did he never got involved in Athletics after he retired?

On the first topic, he said that it was his uncle who encouraged and motivated him to take up athletics. His uncle stimulated his interest, took him to Melaka where he took up bodybuilding for a while and finally he joined the Federation Military College.

On the second topic, he stated that it was the expatriate teachers in the Federation Military College who trained the students in sports and also provided special tuition to ensure that the students who took up sports were not left behind in their studies. The teachers in the Federation Military College took great interests in the students sporting career, gave them opportunities to participate in all sports to strengthen the students physically.

After he became the Malaya’s sprint champion in 1960, he participated in the Rome 1960 Olympic Games with Y.Bhg. Datuk Dr. M. Jegathesan and Kamaruddin Maidin. After returning from the 1960 Olympic Games, at the age of 21 years, he was picked to be trained as a pilot with the Royal Malaysian Air Force. He was sent to England for training and did not have time to train. As such he had to retire from athletics He last represented Malaya was at the Jakarta 1962 Asian Games, where he was selected at the last minute to be a member in the 4 X 100m Relay, where the team won a bronze medal.

On the reason for him not returning to athletics to serve as an Office Bearer of the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU), Y.Bhg. Mej. Gen. (R) Dato’ Shahrudin Mohd Ali said that as the Armed Forces was not a member of MAAU, he was not eligible to stand for elections to serve MAAU.

Y.Bhg. Mej. Gen. (R) Dato’ Shahrudin Mohd Ali made a number of suggestions on sports development. He said that schools were essential in the development of sport. Unfortunately, unlike the 50’s and 60’s, there are insufficient trained sports teachers today, with experience to train school children to take up sports. As such he proposed that sports teachers be recruited from retired national athletes, to train school children to participate in sports.

In addition Y.Bhg. Mej. Gen. (R) Dato’ Shahrudin Mohd Ali stated that while the government was very supportive and provided funds and scholarships in accordance with the athletes pension scheme, he felt that the RM1.0 million awarded to athletes winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games was not achievable for most sports, except for Badminton and Archery. He therefore proposed a scheme whereby athletes who achieved medals at SEA Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympic Games, be given points, which could be accumulated to be awarded an Athletes pension scheme, when they retired.

YAM Yunku Tan Sri Imran ibni Tuanku Ja’afar, the Sports Chairman of the Royal Selangor Club said that the proposals of Y.Bhg. Mej. Gen. (R) Dato’ Shahrudin Mohd Ali, were very interesting and would benefit more athletes than the RM1 million award. He promised to bring the proposals to the attention of MSN and the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports Malaysia.