KUALA LUMPUR – The Youth and Sports Ministry is looking into revitalising the national golf development initiatives, echoing support from female Malaysian golfers for collaborative training opportunities.
During the Maybank Championship which concluded today, minister Hannah Yeoh engaged with six prominent female golfers – Kelly Tan, Natasha Andrea Oon, Ashley Lau, Jeneath Wong, Alyaa Abdulghany and Ng Jing Xuen – who expressed a desire for a unified training platform.
“I had a conversation just now with six of our female golfers to understand their needs and how we can better support them,” said Hannah during a media conference at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.
“They suggested that we should have talent development camps revived again in Malaysia so that younger girls have a training place and Malaysian players come and train together and support each other.
“They have asked for us to do that again next year and we want to look into establishing closer contact with our players because many of them are based overseas.”
Hannah, who attended the Maybank Championship, said the LPGA event aligns with the ministry’s strategy to promote women’s participation in sports.
As such, she announced that RM1 million in matching grants has been granted to the organiser.
The ministry was given RM40 million in matching grant allocation this year to encourage the establishment of more high-performance sports events by sports bodies and the private sector.
Next year, the allocation will be increased to RM50 million as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the tabling of Budget 2024 on October 13.
“I understand that this event is broadcast to 168 countries so this will definitely help promote Malaysia as a destination for golf,” Hannah said.
“So we are already having talks about how we can better support our Malaysian female golfers, and what is needed to grow the sport.”
Hannah also cited Malaysia’s achievement at the Cambodia SEA Games in May where Jing Xuen became the first Malaysian woman to win an individual gold in golf.
Additionally, plans to aid national athletes in their pursuit of the Olympics will be unveiled following the convening of the Road to Gold committee.
Meanwhile, Maybank group president and chief executive Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli expressed the bank’s gratitude towards the Youth and Sports Ministry for its support for the LPGA event.
“Maybank has been involved in golf for more than 14 years, we started with men’s golf.
“Post-Covid, we thought that we should restart this sport with women’s golf.
“We would like to thank YB and the ministry for the support that has been given since the beginning of the year.
“We are excited that we were able to attract six of the top 10 players and 14 of the 20 top players in the world,” he said. – October 28, 2023