'Seek ad-hoc committee's approval first'

THE Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) ad-hoc committee announced yesterday that states, clubs and schools must seek its approval before competing overseas.

This drastic measure was adopted after a Malaysian taekwondo instructor allegedly brought disrepute to the sport when he was involved in a fracas with other instructors in a neighbouring country.

"From now on, any school, club or state which wants to compete overseas must get the ad-hoc committee's approval. This was decided after the sport was brought into disrepute when we received information that a 'commotion' was created when competing overseas," said MTA ad-hoc committee chairman Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar.

Tunku Imran, however, did not want to reveal which outfit or instructor was involved in the fracas: "We need to investigate further before we can name the outfit or instructor."

The ad-hoc committee will be meeting for the fifth time today since it was formed to get the martial arts body back in shape.
"We are working on a formula to ensure MTA, MTF (Malaysian Taekwondo Federation) and MTCA (Malaysian Taekwondo Clubs Association) get together under one umbrella body," said Tunku Imran, who is also the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president.

"Many areas have been cleared in our previous meetings, and we will also call all taekwondo instructors to attend a briefing and feed-back session at the OCM arena on May 26.

"We want to brief and then hear from them first hand, and also register all instructors because the situation is such now, that we do not know if new instructors have come into the picture or the old ones are still active after the MTA was suspended.

"We want to bring some order and discipline into the sport, before the constitution is amended and an AGM (Annual General Meeting) is called."

The AGM is expected to be held within a couple of months and should settle the taekwondo's problems which have been festering since 2005.


By Jugjet Singhjugjet@nst.com.my