KUALA LUMPUR – “Surprising and worrying,” that is the honest opinion of sports analyst Datuk Pekan Ramli regarding the decision to not announce gold medal targets for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Malaysian contingent officials claimed that the decision was made to avoid putting pressure on the athletes.
He said the decision not to announce the gold medal target, which was the norm previously, shows that officials are worried about failing to produce the goods at the September 23 to October 8 Asiad in China.
“For me, there is no need to be afraid of or worried about the gold medal target because it is a responsibility and not pressure (for the athletes).
“Why hide (the gold medal target)? There is no such thing as failure in sports because the most important thing is that they must accept failure with an open mind,” he told Bernama today.
Yesterday, Malaysian chef de mission Datuk Chong Kim Fatt said they have taken a new approach by only announcing that the target is for the national contingent to deliver 27 medals from 13 sports, without stating the specific number of gold medals aimed for in Hangzhou.
Kim Fatt said they are banking on diving, badminton, track cycling, equestrian, hockey, karate, archery, athletics, sailing, sepak takraw, squash, wushu and e-sports to deliver the medals.
Pekan, meanwhile, said the excuse of protecting the athletes from unnecessary pressure is not applicable because for an athlete to succeed, he or she must also be able to overcome the pressure of winning.
“Only great athletes can handle pressure. If it is true that this pressure affects or is a burden to the athletes, then they’d be better off switching to doing something else,” he said.
Pekan also described Malaysia’s move to copy world sports powers like Japan and Australia in not announcing specific medal targets as strange because the performance level of our athletes is way behind compared to theirs.
He also questioned whether all medal winners at the Asiad will enjoy an equal amount of National Sports Incentive Scheme (Shakam) incentives since success in Hangzhou will be measured based on the overall medal tally.
Under the current Shakam incentive scheme, gold medal winners in the Asian Games will get RM80,000 each, silver medallists RM40,000 each and bronze medallists RM20,000 each.
Meanwhile, Malaysian chef de mission to the 2022 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, Tan Sri Mohd Khalid Yunus agreed with the view of Pekan, saying pressure is something athletes are used to dealing with in life.
“All athletes face pressure, the only difference is whether they have the willpower to (overcome it and) avoid mistakes and win because that will determine whether they win or lose,” he said.
Although the Malaysian contingent officials have the right to decide on the types of targets to be announced, Khalid said that it would all eventually depend on the competitiveness and fighting spirit of the athletes in wanting to bring glory to the country at the Asiad.
The former Dean of the Faculty of Science and Recreational Sports of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam Mohad Anizu Mohd Nor, meanwhile, is concerned that the target announced could result in athletes, especially those with the potential to deliver gold medals, not taking things seriously and being contented to just aim for silver or bronze in Hangzhou.
In the Hangzhou Asiad, Malaysia will be represented by 289 athletes, who will compete in 22 out of the 40 sports or 121 out of the 481 events contested. – September 12, 2023