KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will discuss the fate of the Ice Skating Association of Malaysia’s (Isam) membership during its Executive Board (EB) meeting yesterday after the latter was deregistered by the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia.
OCM secretary general Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib said following the EB’s discussion, the issue would be brought to the council meeting in March to decide whether Isam should remain as an OCM’s affiliate.
“For now, Isam is still our affiliate and the process must go through the council first. If the problem is not settled by March, it means they do not have chance to remain as our member. We also have not received any application from the Malaysia Ice Skating Federation (MISF), which was registered recently and approved by the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia, to be our affiliate.
“Whether they can be our affiliate or not, depends on the ‘appropriateness’ in their applications and support from the world body, the International Skating Union (ISU). But the best solution is for both the bodies to work together for the betterment of the sport,” he said after having a meeting with Isam at his office here, Monday.
Mohd Nazifuddin said, OCM viewed the matter seriously as Isam could not use around RM300,000 of its money, part of which was a grant received from ISU, for the development of ice skating in the country.
‘’They have succeeded in obtaining a large fund, if they are not saved, it will go into insolvency and cannot be used for the development of sports. Isam also have investments in short and speed skating which cannot be utilised,’’ he said.
Earlier, the father of upcoming skater Sree Abiraame, B. Chendren was worried that his daughter’s Olympics gold medal dream would be dashed due to the deregistration.
The 7-year-old pint sized skater became a sensation of Malaysian sports when she won numerous titles throughout last year, including four gold medals each (Under-7 category) in the Ice Skating Institute’s (ISI) Asia Skate in Bangkok, Thailand and Shenzhen, China last year, despite hailing from a country which has never experienced snow.
Chendren claimed Isam was deregistered by the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia on May 2018 for not submitting its annual and financial reports for 2008-2014 and 2015-2017, during the tenure of the previous office bearers.
“Firstly, why does the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia deregister Isam now, why did not deregister Isam then? We do not understand why the action was taken for the mistakes committed by the previous board when the complainant was the president of Isam during that period?” questioned Chendren, who is also Isam’s current secretary general.
“Secondly, how come the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia allowed the registration of the new body, MISF, when the same person is leading it now. Thirdly, this spoils the image of the country in the international arena as Isam is registered under ISU,” he said.
Chendren claimed that the Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaiton Othman took the decision to deregister Isam without giving ISAM the chance to explain its side of the story.
Meanwhile, Isam president Billy Johan said eight skaters had qualified for the 2019 ISU World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships from Jan 25-27, but they were in the dark as the association could not use their funds after the account was frozen.
“From eight, two have already pulled out, and we are not sure about the remaining six. The cost for each skater can reach RM12,000, so the parents are worried now,” he said. – Bernama
