IWF give Malaysia a big `lift'

12/10/1998

THE International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) are keen to promote
Malaysia as a centre of excellence in South-East Asia. All Malaysia have
to do is provide a training venue and the rest will be taken care of.
The offer was made after Mohamed Hidayat and Matin Guntali placed
Malaysia on the weightlifting map with a combined one gold, one silver and
three bronze medal haul at last month's Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.
"IWF secretary Dr Tamas Ajan was impressed with the facilities in
Malaysia and made the offer after the Games," said MWF secretary Lt Com
Kamaruzaman Kadir.
"The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) are sorting out the
details and when we are ready, we will present a plan to the National
Sports Council (NSC) for further action."
NSC are preparing a 10-year blueprint for selected sports and the MWF
hope to include the IWF offer in their plans.
The IWF offer comes complete with coaches and allowances. The only
`catch' is Malaysia will have to woo weightlifters from around the region
to take part in the twice-a-year training sessions.
"Weightlifters from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and
neighbouring countries would also benefit from the month-long training
because IWF want to uplift the sport in this region.
"They have seen the potential in South-East Asian weightlifters and now
want to see these lifters on par with those from Japan, China and South
Korea.
"This is not the first time IWF have made the offer. Three months before
the KL Games, Kenya was made into a centre of preparation for the African
countries and it made a big difference in their standard. Malaysian
lifters would be the biggest winners if the plan takes off."
Kamarzaman said feedback received from the Oceania and Commonwealth
countries on the plan is also encouraging.
"Zambia and Uganda have shown interest in having joint-training and have
agreed to foot their travel expenditure. They feel it would be better for
their weightlifters to train in Malaysia than in European countries
because we have paved the way for developing countries with a good show at
Commonwealth level."
The NSC are expected to meet soon with selected sports associations to
finalise a 10-year blueprint and the IWF offer will surely receive their
greenlight because it is a win-win situation.
On training for the Asian Games in Bangkok, Kamaruzaman said the
weightlifters will only resume fulltime training next month.
(END)