SportExcel in dire straits

13/11/2001

SPORTEXCEL, celebrating their 10th year of existence in Malaysia, are in
dire straits as some of their chartered members have decided to pull out.
But they have not thrown in the towel yet.
SportExcel executive director Teng Mui Ngee said yesterday that although
they operated on a shoe-string budget this year and will be in bigger
trouble, financially next year, they will not `let the ship sink.'
"We might trim some legs of the circuit next year, but we will make sure
SportExcel does not cease to exist because it will be a big blow for
junior development in the country if we go down," said Teng.
Right now they have 20 chartered members to support their junior
development programmes but only 17 are paying members and even the
chartered members have written in saying that they might pull out of the
sportexcel development programmes.
SportExcel have 13 junior circuits under their wings. They are squash,
bowling, golf, cycling, shooting, cricket, tennis, rhythmic gymnastics,
artistic gymnastics, swimming, diving, athletics and sepaktakraw.
"Each chartered member gives SportExcel RM15,000 a year and that amounts
to RM255,000 only. To run our programmes for one year we need about
RM600,000, so it looks like we will be in big trouble if some of the
chartered members decide to follow-up on their proposal to abandon us,"
said Teng.
Nestle, through Milo, and the National Sports Council have been pumping
in the balance of the budget but even they are bursting at the seams right
now and will find it hard to pump in more money should some chartered
members pull out.
SportExcel started in 1991 and the athletes that went through their
circuits have helped Malaysia to emerge overall champions for the first
time in the history of the Sea Games.
"The entire bowling squad including Shalin Zulkifli and Lai Kin Goh and
the squash players - Nicol David, Tricia Chuah, Sharon Wee and Sally Looi
who won four gold medals for Malaysia in the Games - are products of
SportExcel.
"The list is endless because most of the current national athletes grew
up with SportExcel but we have not been heard because we played a silent
hand in their development. If we fail to find new chartered members, we
will trim some of our circuits but not abandon the programme," said Teng.
Cricketer Arul Suppiah is among those who beneffited from the SportExcel
programme. They have sponsored him for six years and at a total cost of
RM100,000 to take him where he is now.
"Arul is a much sought-after cricketer in England today with the local
club Sommerset County offering him a scholarship to study and play for
them.
"Now that he has made it big, we are going to leave him out and are
looking to sponsor golfer Ben Leong in the Unites States."
Ben Leong, from Sabah, will be playing and studying in the United States
and SportExcel, with help of NSC, have decided to help him achieve his
dream of becoming a top-notch golfer in the near future.
"We are working with the Malaysia Golf Association and the Sabah
Foundation to help chip in some of the money for Ben Leong," said Teng.
It would be a pity if, after 10 years of promoting sports at the
grassroots level, SportExcel ceases to exist because some of their
chartered members, who are big corporations in the country, decide that
RM15,000-a-year is too huge a sacrifice for development of sports in the
country. jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)