Shapawi: RM19.5 million well invested

19/07/2002

THE National Sports Council (NSC) has been very flexible with their purse
strings, and the whopping RM19.4 million budgeted for the Manchester
Commonwealth Games and Busan Asian Games has paid dividends earlier than
expected.
Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, NSC director of international preparation,
revealed yesterday that their programme, carried forward after the success
of the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games where Malaysia won 111 gold medals, has
brought in the medals at regional, Asian and world level.
"We set aside RM19.4 million to prepare the athletes for the
Commonwealth and Asian Games and the rewards have been pouring in from
every association," said Shapawi.
The money was well spent when you consider that the badminton squad won
silver in the Thomas Cup, boxer Adnan Jusoh clinched gold in the Asian
Championships and the women archers are now ranked fourth in Asia.
"In cycling, Josiah Ng finished second in the keirin event in the World
Cup; in gymnastics, Onn Kwang Tung won the pommel horse gold at the
Pacific Alliance; the `karate kids' brought in three golds, four silver
and six bronze from the Asian Championships" said a proud Shapawi.
"In short, the money has been put to good use by the associations to
train their athletes leading up to the Commonwealth and Asian
Games," he added.
Lawn bowls is another sterling example.
They swept seven of the eight gold medals at the Asia Championships in
Manila recently. They also did the country proud by winning 33 of 46
matches in their recent tour of Scotland.
And shooter Bibiana Ng entered the final of the World Championships.
"In bowling, the keglers finished with one gold, two silver and one
bronze in the Asian FIQ Championships while men's hockey did well to
finish eighth in the recent KualaLumpur World Cup," said Shapawi.
In short, it was well worth the money, and now, the NSC is looking for
good outings in the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Shapawi also provided the breakdown which showed that the bulk of the
money went towards foreign and local coaches and the 416 athletes under
the NSC programme.
"We have 34 foreign and 32 local coaches under the programme assisted by
six officials and the budget for them was RM4.8 million.
"This included salaries, housing, transport and flight tickets," said
Shapawi.
For the 416 athletes, RM5 million was budgeted for them.
"And it included their salaries, allowances, tuition fees, insurance,
medical, training and food suppliments."
Another RM2.2 million was for the upgrading of training facilities.
"The biggest slice was for the training programme which was RM7.4
million as this involved domestic and international competitions and
exposure trips.
"The money has been put to good use," said Shapawi.
(END)