Conspiracy to oust me from PSM: Ahmad Ismail

KUALA LUMPUR: The issue of dropping sepak takraw as a core sport has taken a turn when the Malaysian Sepak Takraw Association (PSM) president Datuk Ahmad Ismail revealed that there is conspiracy in the National Sports Council (MSN) to topple him from the sport governing body.
Ahmad said MSN gave the wrong input to Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin on the sport and repeated the mistake by dropping sepak takraw as a core sport.
"It was wrong and a mistake (to drop sepak takraw), but I am not afraid to say there is a conspiracy to take me down because I know there are MSN officers who wanted to clash with me. I have evidence of their messages.
"You (MSN officers) should not meddle in our affairs. I noticed that when we win, they uploaded in MSN Facebook, but when we lose, they blamed PSM ... programme not put together. They gave the wrong input to the minister," he told reporters after tabling a list of athletes to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Selection Committee here today.
On the list, he said PSM submitted the names of 31 men and 18 women players and would announce the squad targets for the Asian Games in June.
According to him, PSM will be sending the men's national sepak takraw team to participate in a commando camp in Jugra, Banting from Jan 15 to March.
"The camp should have been held earlier but as some employers refused to release the national players, it was postponed. I am appealing to the employers involved to release the players for the training.
"The camp is aimed at raising the motivation and patriotism of players aged between 19 and 23," he said.
The sepak takraw squad last contributed a gold medal at the Asian Games in 1994. — Bernama