Hopes of athletes, sports activists for new govt

KUALA LUMPUR: Sports activists and athletes want the new government which has been given the mandate to rule the country to continue supporting sports development and excellence especially to realise the dream of the country's first Olympic gold medal.
National cycling champion, Azizulhasni Awang hopes the new government will be serious in helping national athletes to be more competitive at international level through more effective programmes and facilities.
"I hope the government will emphasise on the welfare and fate of athletes who sacrifice for the nation's honour. We hope government support would continue to assist athletes win Malaysia's first gold medal at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games," he told Bernama.
In this regard, the former world keirin champion congratulated Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who headed Pakatan Harapan (PH) to win the 14th general election (GE14) on Wednesday.
"Thank you to all Malaysians for their voice and nobody can deny the voice of the people. My hope as a Malaysian is for the country to continue progressing as one of the developed nations," said Azizulhasni.
PH’s victory ended Barisan Nasional (BN)’s rule of more than six decades and brought new hope as well as inspiration for the people.
GE14 also saw PH, a coalition comprising PKR, DAP, Amanah and PPBM, winning 113 of the 222 parliamentary seats with a simple majority.
Meanwhile, according to Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, the new OCM leadership was ready to cooperate with the new national leadership, especially the new Youth and Sports Minister, to take national sports to its highest level.
“Good cooperation should continue especially to fulfill the dream of Malaysians to clinch the country’s first gold medal at the Olympics,” said Mohamad Norza who is also Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president.
In this regard, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali said the new government leadership is no stranger to the development of motoring sports and hopes for better cooperation to continue with more effective programmes.
Razlan said he believed the support from the federal government was important to ensure motoring sports continue to stay competitive at international level.
“Many Malaysian racers are competing at world level, we hope the government would continue to ensure new local talents receive the appropriate support,” said Razlan. — Bernama