KUALA LUMPUR: The National Sports Council (NSC) will not drop any athlete for no reason, said its director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.
Commenting on an allegation made by national para cyclist Mohamad Syazwan Roshdi to a local portal, Ahmad Shapawi said they would provide proper training facilities for athletes who consistently showed improvement in their performances and had the potential to do well on the international stage.
Ahmad Shapawi said in a statement today that Mohamad Syazwan, a gold medallist in the C1, C2, C3 (multiple disability) road racing category in the 9th ASEAN Para Games here, knew of his limited improvement before he was dropped from the 2019 training programme.
“In our meeting with him after his contract was not extended, he informed us that he had found a job as a salesman with a private company. We were never informed about him failing to land a job in Singapore.
“On his claims that he was treated like a criminal and had to be escorted out by security guards when he entered the NSC premises, that’s normal procedure, especially since the other athletes were not in their rooms when he came by the hostel to take his belongings,” he said.
Ahmad Shapawi said the rider was dropped after failing to show any improvement in 2018 and it was unanimously agreed by head coach Johari Nayan and assistant coaches Salehuddin Mohd Noh, Mohd Fitri Marzuki and Iqbal Sokri.
On claims that Mohamad Syazwan was not provided with sufficient facilities to compete, Ahmad Shapawi explained that it was usual for para athletes not to be given their own bicycles for track event as they would use existing bicycles according to their sizes.
“He was provided with a bicycle for the road event as he started as a road racer,” he said. – Bernama
