KUALA LUMPUR – Aquatics has long been a source of national pride, consistently contributing medals in various international events.
While swimming remains a challenging arena for Olympic medals, diving has become a strong suit through the emergence of world champions and Olympic medalists such as Datuk Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong.
However, after many seasons of highs and breakthroughs in diving, Malaysia will be represented by only one diver at the Paris Olympics this year: Bertrand Rhodict Lises, who secured his spot in the men’s 10m individual platform at last year’s World Aquatics Championships in Japan.
This is a significant disappointment, especially considering Malaysia’s strong track record in the sport.
With Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh recently urging all state governments to invest more in the infrastructure and development of both swimming and diving athletes with the hope of producing more talents to win medals for the country, this plea has raised a critical question.
Can other states replicate the successful blueprint of Sarawak, which happens to be the nation’s premier hub for aquatic talent?
For the record, Sarawak has consistently produced some of Malaysia’s best aquatic athletes, leveraging top-tier facilities, rigorous training programmes, and a robust support system.
Its comprehensive approach has made it a model for success in the field of aquatic sports in the country, producing talents such as Datuk Pandelela, Bertrand, Bryan Nickson Lomas, Welson Sim, Daniel Bego, Hii Puong Wei, Enrique Maccartney Harold, and several others over the years.
Speaking to Scoop, sports analyst Mohd Sadek Mustafa said that all states, specifically peninsular aquatic federations in Malaysia, should emulate the model used by the Sarawakians in scouting and developing talent outside of the cities.
“I totally agree with the sports minister’s statement, and it’s time for the peninsular states to be serious about developing talent in aquatics.
“More than that, they should really look into Sarawak’s structure and model to see how they have managed to shift their attention to developing talent from rural areas and improving their lives through aquatics.
“Sarawak has been serious about developing their talents since the 1992 Malaysian Games (Sukma), and they have seen many fruitful outcomes over the years, with many of their athletes reaching the top levels in the sport.
“I’m not saying that we don’t have talents from the peninsular states, but it’s just that their federations are not doing enough to produce more. The majority of the talents that are being scouted in the peninsular states are from the upper middle-income group who live in the cities.
“They need to change their scouting system by looking at talents from rural areas, like Sarawak does,” said the senior sports science lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara when contacted.
Pandelela, who has two Olympic medals, 2012 London (bronze) and 2016 Rio (silver), is from Bau, Sarawak, a town known for its gold mining activities in the past.
Located only an hour’s drive out of the city of Kuching, Bau is a regional area and home to the descendants of the Bidayuh tribes.
At the same time, Sadek also said that the state governments should look into getting the right coaches to develop the talent that they have.
“It won’t be an issue for the state governments to develop proper infrastructure, as we have seen many top-class infrastructures being developed in states like Terengganu, Johor, Perak, and Perlis in the past.
“But there’s no use in spending millions to develop infrastructure without prioritising getting the right coaches to develop the talent that they have.
“They need to start investing more in getting qualified coaches with international standards, like Sarawak does. There are already too many really good infrastructures around our country, and most of them are white elephants,” Sadek added.
It was reported that the National Sports Council, working together with Malaysia Aquatics, is in the midst of executing a five-year (2024-2028) blueprint for diving with the goal of producing talent capable of challenging for honours at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
The government’s new high-level committee for sports, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, is also placing an emphasis on boosting development in swimming. – June 17, 2024