Khairy instructs MSN to assist dropped sports

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Sports Council (MSN) has been instructed to assist three sports, which have been dropped from the core sports list, to enable their respective associations to formulate more robust development programmes.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he had ordered MSN director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail to meet the representatives of the three sports, namely weightlifting, taekwondo and sepak takraw.
"When a sport is dropped from the core sports list, it does not mean that the sport is ignored.
"So we have asked MSN to think about how we can save these sports. They were dropped based on some factors (such as), bad performance, internal crises, doping problems and so on," Khairy said.
In the meantime, he stressed that the dropping of the three sports was a clear signal to their respective associations to improve in order to be re-listed as core sports in the future.
Khairy had earlier announced the dropping of the three sports from the core sports list after having discussions with MSN. The decision meant that the three sports will not be contested at the 2018 Malaysia Games in Perak.
For the record, the Core Sports Programme started in 2005 with the aim of increasing the participation of athletes in eight sports listed at the time; athletics, aquatics (swimming and diving), bowling, football, badminton, hockey, squash and gymnastics.
Three years later, MSN added 11 more sports: archery, cycling, lawn bowls, karate, silat, shooting, sepak takraw, taekwondo, weightlifting and wushu.
Khairy was speaking to reporters after witnessing the SuperMokh Cup International Invitational Football Championship, here today. — Bernama