KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) will review the insurance scheme for national athletes in efforts to coordinate sports programmes under the National Sports Council (MSN).
Its minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said a one-stop Athlete Centre would be set up this year to facilitate communication between the national athletes and sports management in the country.
“KBS through MSN will continue to improve the welfare of the nation’s athletes even after they have left the MSN sports programme,“ he said in his latest Instagram post.
Elaborating Syed Saddiq said KBS would continue to strengthen cooperation with local universities and institutions offering technical education and vocational training (TVET) by providing scholarships as well as facilitating state athletes to continue their studies while undergoing training at the institutions involved.
“Late last year we were able to establish such relationship with two other universities (currently seven in total). Our target is to have one university in every state by the end of 2019,” he said.
Earlier on Friday Syed Saddiq met up with two former paralympic athletes, Shukor Farhan Suliman and Mohd Nur Syafiq Suhaimy, and promised to assist them after their contract were terminated by MSN.
Shukor, 23 and Mohd Nur Syafiq, 27, reportedly had to sell fruits and go into hairstyling business after their contract were terminated.
Shukor’s contract was terminated due to disciplinary problems and failing to win any medals at the 2018 Asian Para Games.
As for Mohd Nur Syafiq, he could no longer perform after he broke his left leg in an accident while undergoing training along the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway, a day before the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games. — Bernama
