MWF not doing enough

22/08/2002

THE Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) has been taken to task for
not doing enough, but bask in the glory of Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim's three-
gold lift in the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The scathing attack comes from vice-president of the Pahang
Weightlifitng Association Dr Majid Muda, who has been overseeing the
development of Amirul and his team-mate Faisal Baharom who lifted a bronze
in Manchester.
Amirul, 21, won the the snatch (115kg), clean and jerk (145kg), and the
overall (260kg) gold medals. His lift in the snatch beat the Games record
of 107.5kg, the clean and jerk record of 140kg, and the overall record of
247.5kg.
Faizal won the bronze with a lift of 110kg in the snatch.
"The Rompin centre of excellence has been producing calibre lifters over
the years. But the parent body, which has done nothing much to promote the
sport in this country, has been basking in the glory," claimed Majid.
Majid alleged that, development-wise, the parent body has not produced
any calibre lifters over the years but instead, has been hampering the
development of the sport.
"The National Sports Council (NSC), who is very keen to develop
weightlifting, had organised an under-18 meet but instead of supporting
it, the MWF got irked and did not want to sanction the tournament," said
Majid.
Majid, who was down in Kuala Lumpur last week, also said that the
feedback he received from the Manchester Games weightlifters Edmund Yeo,
Amirul and Hidayat Hamidon was very disturbing.
"I spoke to the weightlifters and they told me that instead of helping
them, the MWF officials made their task in Manchester much more difficult
by meddling with the starting weights.
"I was told that MWF officials, who were nowhere during the hectic run-
up to the Commonwealth Games, started suggesting the starting lifts which
disturbed the weightlifters and some were unable to perform.
"Roswadi Rashid, who lifted in the 62kg category, went to Manchester
four kilogrammes over his weight category and there was nobody to monitor
or advise him on how to bring his weight down. I was also told that just
before the lift, his warm-up was not monitored properly and that is why he
failed to perform," said Majid.
Rompin, in Pahang, is the current hot-bed for weightlifting and the
assembly line began to produce lifters in the mid-90s when Abdul Rahman
Ahmad was unearthed as a potential Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Sadly, Abdul Rahman failed to deliver in Kuala Lumpur `98 and his
father, Ahmad Abdullah, told him to dump the barbells for good.
But Abdul Rahman's legacy is still very much alive. He paved the way for
Rompin youths to try their luck at weightlifting.
"And everytime I want to send my lads for overseas stints, the MWF
officials try to jump on the bandwagon and follow them although they are
nowhere to be seen when it comes to developing the youth base.
"Before the Manchester Commonwealth Games, I wrote to the parent body
asking them to forward a proposal to the NSC to send Amirul to China for
training.
"But three months later, my proposal had still not reached the NSC. So,
a hasty plan was hatched to send Amirul and Hidayat to Indonesia where the
facilities were not up to the mark and Amirul injured himself," said
Majid.
Majid also claimed that development chairman Ong Pok Eng is never around
during meetings, but always meddles during tournaments.
"Pahang has been producing the weightlifters and we are fed-up with the
parent body for not doing enough to promote the sport in other States.
"If this continues, in the long run, the weightlifting medals are going
to dry up," warned Majid.
(END)