KUALA LUMPUR – Taekwondo Malaysia is urged to formulate a roadmap if it intends to return to the world’s largest sporting event, the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Malaysia Olympic Council (OCM) president, Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said that Taekwondo Malaysia should prepare early to secure a national representation in these four years’ time.
Taekwondo Malaysia is currently seen working to emerge from the shadow of internal turmoil that has plagued them before.
Therefore, he praised the initiative by Taekwondo Malaysia to host the Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships in Kuching from July 25 to 31 next year, marking the first international championship since 2017.
Malaysia has not had a taekwondo representative at the Olympic Games since Che Chew Chan, who competed in the 69kg category at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
“When we execute such a programme involving participation from 33 countries worldwide, it will stimulate the development of the sport in the country.
“At the level of coaches and referees, they can exchange opinions, ideas, and introduce Malaysia to measure the standards of the sport.
“This also provides a boost to higher levels. Everyone understands that this is an Olympic sport, and after this, I hope Taekwondo Malaysia’s president Azizul Annuar and secretary general Sheikh Muzaffar can outline a roadmap for LA2028. We need to take step-by-step measures.”
They are also trying to convince the Sports Ministry and the National Sports Council (NSC) to reinstate taekwondo as a core sport after it was dropped in 2017.
“Despite some challenges, we won a gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, and then a silver medal at the World Championship in poomsae (Hidayah Abdul Karim dan Jason Loo Jun Wei), which had never been accomplished by any Malaysian before.
“This shows our progress. I don’t want to dwell too much on our history, but it’s evident how much we’ve developed, often with minimal support from the NSC.
“It is part of the national development programme where we make early preparations to ensure that we have representatives at the Olympics and participate at the highest levels.
“Therefore, I support the statement of OCM president,” said the Taekwondo Malaysia president Azizul Annuar Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan. – June 21, 2024