Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Circus Is In Town Early For 2012!

 As we wait to usher in 2012, Malaysian sports enthusiasts must surely be hoping to see Malaysian sports move upwards and reach higher goals in the international arena.
Is that going to happen, or is it just wishful thinking?
For starters, several developments in the sports scene this month, does not paint a great picture to look forward to in the New Year.
Several issues in sports have been bothering and I just want to get it of my chest.
Everything is pointing to the circus has arrived in town early for 2012.
Let me take each issue separately.

MILLIONAIRE FOOTBALLERS (New Sunday Times front-paged story on Dec 11):
Firstly, it is a non-story!
The idea to have Asean League has been in the air for sometime now. It was initiated by the Asean Football Association, whose headquarters is in Kelana Jaya.
It was none other than, Datuk Paul Mony Samuel, general-secretary cum treasurer, the former FA of Malaysia secretary-general, a highly respected figure in the world of soccer, who has been trying to get the league off ground.
However, financial implications, time factor, availability of players from the respective countries and other issues, have prevented the league from getting off ground.
And suddenly the Sports Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, wants to introduce this Asean "Champions League" and was getting consensus from the Asean Sports Ministers Meeting in Yogyakarta recently.
Firstly, the Sports Minister was out of line to even make an announcement of this nature. He had no locus standi, because all football matters in the country has to go through the national body.
He could have asked FA of Malaysia to make the announcement, sought the advice of AFF or even the Asian Football Confederation, whose home is also in Malaysia - Bukit Jalil.
Just as a matter of understanding, any new tournaments normally takes about four years to be included as the AFC and FIFA calendars are announced for four years cycle and has to be approved by them.
Did anyone remind the good Sports Minister that any form of Government intervention can see the national soccer Federation banned?
And Millionaire Footballer? What are we talking about. Our Malaysian players cannot even hold a candle to the top footballing nations in Asia and they want to earn million ringgit?
Seriously now....let us learn to walk before we start to even jog, let alone run!
Winning the Sea Games twice and the Suzuki Cup suddenly makes Malaysian footballers millionaire material? Who are we kidding.
This piece of news is certainly early arrival of the circus for 2012.

M-LEAGUE

The foreign players have arrived?
We had illegal immigrants coming for trials, players with falsified records, players who could not get International Transfer Certificates (ITC) and the list goes on.
Then there were cases where teams failed to meet the deadline for registration of foreign players.
Then there is a case of player signed on, but is injured.
We have old faces coming back to play in the League they are so familiar with, while the news ones names do not ring a bell among names in the world of soccer.
Have we once again settled for half-baked players or con-players?
Oh sorry, the FA of Malaysia's vetting committee have gone through the list and given officially approval.
The state and club teams had sent in 35 applications, but the competitions committee only approved 26 based on guidelines set by FIFA. Two applications were withdrawn, while seven were rejected because they failed to meet the requirements.
So what is new from the previous years when we had foreign players. The same old problem exists despite FA of Malaysia taking stringent measures, having seminars to educate the State FAs and clubs - after all these years of playing in the professional league!
Can we expect to see more problems surfacing when the league begins?
Oops! The problem has already began. Foreign players in T-Team in Terengganu snubbed an official dinner organised for them.
I have always been against foreign players, unless they are really quality and renowned players. With the coming of the foreign players how many local strikers and midfielders are going to be denied a place in the teams.
Will the national team be affected by this decision to include the foreign players?
Who cares? As long as the Stadiums are filled and the game is entertaining - both of which are subjective.
So here we go again...the circus is in town early for 2012!

INFRASTRUCTURE

One would imagine that since soccer in the country went Semi-Pro in 1989 and Pro in 1994 - 22 years and have become an adult - everything about the game is settled, professionally and ready to move on to the next level.
No, we still have Stadiums failing inspections for poor lighting, poor grounds and teams having to play away from home.
We are also still talking about changing the format of the competition!
So the circus continues into 2012!

NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND NSC

The bickering, back-biting and animosity in national associations and between national associations and NSC, looks like to continue.
Many officials are already beinging to think or feel that they are bigger than the sports.
When the administration and management is not right, how do we expect to get things right for the athletes.
Some organisations are getting bigger and bigger for their shoes and simply dictate terms.
It is about time national associations start standing on their own feet and not just rely on handouts and become servants.
Each national association exist because they are the experts in the sports and have a duty to develop and see their sports reach the highest level at the international level.
If they cannot work towards that, then they might as well resign leave the associations. But fat chance because many are there for their own benefits.
So how is 2012 going to see anything new? The bigger circus will probably be in town in 2012!

SEA GAMES

The Games is fast being dubbed as the biennial "Circus" because of the many sports which are included to see the host win medals.
The debate on the matter has been going on for sometime now, to confine the Games sports to Olympics sports only and also to make the Games a Under-23 Games. But it has been talk only.
Now, the Chairman of the Philippines Sports Commission has made the call again.
And the Olympic Council of Malaysia has proposed a Sea Games Conference in Kuala Lumpur on March 28 and 29th.
Wonder what is going to come out of it?
Is it going to be another merry-go-round at the funfair or circus?

Datuk Sieh Kok Chi's views on the Sea Games (Honorary Secretary Olympic Council of Malaysia)

After every SEA Games, there will be the usual call for improving the selection and the reduction of sports and events of future SEA Games. All the calls are from sports officials of countries which have hosted past SEA Games and have also added sports and events as they pleased. The latest call was from the Chairman of the Philippines Sports Commission, who said that all sports and events of future SEA Games should be sports that are in the Olympic Games or the Asian Games.


Being appointed the Chairman of the Sports Commission, quite recently, he was not aware that when the Philippines hosted the 23rd SEA Games in 2005, there were 40 sports in the programme and sports which were not in the Asian Games programme at that time were Arnis and Dance Sport (although Dance Sport was in the 1st Asian Indoor Games 2005 held in Bangkok, before the 23rd SEA Games). In the Indonesian 26th SEA Games, out of the 43 sports, only 3 sports, namely Contract Bridge, Shorinji Kempo, and Vovinam were not in the Asian Games. All the other 40 sports were in the Asian Games, the Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games.
The SEAP/SEA Games has been held since 1959, which means that the Games has been successfully organized for 52 years, without any problem. The reasons for this are the two special features of the SEA Games, which are:
• the hosting of the Games is by rotation and hence there is no bidding, campaigning and ‘politics’. Every National Olympic Committee has a chance to host the Games in accordance with its capacity and resources. Thus the number of sports have varied from 18 (the maximum until 1985), to 22 sports at the Brunei Darussalam 20th SEA Games in 1999 to 25 sports at the Vientiane 25th SEA Games in 2009 to 43 sports at the recent Indonesian 26th SEA Games.
• there is no elected Office Bearers of the SEA Games Federation, the Office Bearers of the Federation are the Office Bearers of the Host National Olympic Committee, who hold office by rotation for two years. Thus the Host NOC has the right and the responsibility to organise the SEA Games in accordance with the Constitution, without any outside interference and without any politics.
Another fact which is also important is that the SEA Games Federation is a “Games Federation” and not a “Sport Federation”. Since its sole property is the SEA Games, its only responsibility is to ensure that the SEA Games is successfully organized every two years. Some SEA Games officials have the mistaken idea that the SEA Games Federation should also develop sports. This is incorrect because it is the respective International Federations and the National Sports Associations who are responsible for developing their sports. If the SEA Games Federation were to carry out sports development, then it is encroaching into the right and responsibility of the IFs and NSAs.
Thus the selection of sports in the SEA Games programme should be based on how much the inclusion of a sport can enhance the image and value of the SEA Games and not for the purpose of providing an opportunity for a sport to be developed by its inclusion in the SEA Games. Unfortunately most of the officials in the NOCs and the SEA Games Federation are also principle office bearers of National Sports Associations in their respective countries and some are also office bearers of their IFs. Hence they often use their positions to lobby and influence the host NOC and also have “trade-offs” with their fellow office bearers from other NOCs, who are in the same positions, to include their sports, irrespective of whether their sports deserves to be included into the SEA Games programme or not. Until such conflict of interests situations are eliminated, the issues on the selection of sports and events in the SEA Games will remain unsolved.
On the other hand, what is wrong having a bigger sports programme? If the Host government sports officials and the NOC are happy to include more sports and events, everyone should be thankful and happy and not be unhappy. After all, more sports will ensure more participants and more winners, irrespective of from which country. More participants and more medal winners will encourage and motivate more young people to participate in sports and strive to represent their countries in the SEA Games and later the Asian Games and even the Olympic Games. If the SEA Games become too restrictive, then its popularity and attractiveness will slowly be eroded. As such it is best to leave the decision on the number of sports to the Host NOC, especially when every NOC will have the chance to decide for themselves when their turn comes.

Level-field: So what do you make out of this....the circus continues?


Sunday, December 4, 2011

SEA GAMES ANALYSIS - PART ONE

26th SEA Games 2011


By Datuk Sieh Kok Chi

Congratulations to the Malaysian Contingent to the 26th SEA Games for winning 59 gold medals, 50 silver medals and 81 bronze medals to finish in 4th position based on gold medal tally. All members of the Malaysian Contingent, from the Chefs de Mission, to the team officials and more important the athletes showed the true spirit of ‘Malaysia Boleh’, to overcome the challenges to achieve their target of 60 gold medals, set by the National Sports Associations (NSAs) themselves. The NSAs were very courageous and showed their confidence to set the 60 gold medal target, as failure to achieve the target would have resulted in lots of criticism and ridicule by the arm-chair critics.

The table below shows the percentage of gold medals won by the 4 leading NOCs in the four editions of the SEA Games held in Indonesia. The 1979 SEA Games was the first time Indonesia hosted the SEA Games and it was also only the second time Indonesia participated in the SEA Games. Prior to 1977, the SEA Games was known as the SEAP Games and Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and the Philippines were not members of the SEAP Games then.


In 1979, the SEA Games was still under the original Constitution of the SEAP Games, which limited the number of sports to 18 only. Not withstanding the small number of sports and events, Indonesia was very strong and easily topped the gold medal tally, winning 40.53% of the gold medals in contention. Thailand won 22.03% and Malaysia won 13.16%. Vietnam did not participate.


The 1985 SEA Games held in Bangkok was still under the original SEAP Games Constitution. Thailand organized 18 sports and finished on top of the gold medal tally. As a result, of their failure to finish on top of the gold medal tally, Indonesia, when they hosted the 1987 SEA Games managed to amend the original SEAP Constitution by removing the maximum number of sports. From that edition of the SEA Games, the flood gates were opened and it became a free for all. As such Indonesia organized 26 sports with 348 events at the 1987 SEA Games. With the drastic increase, it was the best achievement by the Indonesia, winning 53.16% of the gold medals. Malaysia’s tally was a respectable 10.34%.


In the 1997 SEA Games, Indonesia was again host and they organized 34 sports with 448 events, winning 42.41% of the gold medals. Malaysia managed to sustain its share of gold medals by winning 12.27%. 1997 was also the last year of Indonesia’s dominance of the SEA Games. Due to the Asian economic downturn, which effected Indonesia badly, the standard of their sports declined. As such, in 2011, the 26th SEA Games was an opportunity for Indonesia to re-exert their dominance. They organized a record 43 sports with 554 events, hoping that with the increase in sports and events, they will achieve exceptional results. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Although Indonesia still finished at the top, but their share of gold medals was only 32.85%, the lowest achieved in the 4 editions of the SEA Games held in Indonesia, in spite of the large number of non-traditional sports and events.


The table below shows that the standard of sports in Indonesia has dropped from the days when they always win over 40% of the gold medals. One of the reasons is the rise of Vietnam, which has increased its gold medal share from 7.81% in 1997 to 17.32% in 2011. Malaysia has been able to sustain and maintain its share of an average of 11%, while Thailand too retained its share of around 19%.


Without the inclusion of some non-traditional sports and events, Indonesia gold medal share would certainly be below 30%. In the following five sports, Indonesia won in Paragliding 11 gold medals out of 12 event, Roller Sport, 12 out of 12, Soft Tennis, 7 out of 7, Shorinji Kempo 8 out of 16 and Vovinam 5 out of 14, making a total of 43 gold medals out of 71 or 70.49%.


The lesson to be learnt from the 26th SEA Games is that to achieve and maintain good results, sports development must be carried in a systematic, long term and well planned fashion and not depend too much on the number of sports and events. Malaysia has strength in certain basic sports and events and even when Malaysia did not participate in certain sports and events, our depth and breadth in certain sports will ensure respectable results.


SEA Games held in Indonesia No. of sports No. of events % of gold medal won by the NOCs



                                                                                                     INA    THA    MAS   VIE


1979                                               16                  227              40.53    22.03 13.16   DNP


1987                                               26                  348              53.16    18.10 10.34   DNP


1997                                               34                  448              42.41   18.52 12.27    7.81


2011                                               43                  554              32.85   19.67 10.64    17.32





Jakarta/Palembang Sea Games Analysis - Part 2

By Datuk Sieh Kok Chi

26th SEA Games 2011



An analysis of Malaysia’s Performance at the SEA Games


From Indonesia 1997 to Indonesia 2011


The Malaysian Contingent comprising Athletes – 372 male athletes and 235 female athletes making a total of 607athletes, out of which 352 athletes are in Category A and 255 are in Category B. Officials – 196 male officials and 19 female officials making a total of 215 team officials (excluding CDM and supporting staff), out of which 139 officials are in Category A and 70 are in Category B. The Contingent won 59 gold medals, 50 silver medals and 81 bronze medals to finish in 4th position based on gold medal tally, surpassing both the NSC’s target of 45 gold medals, OCM’s target of 55 gold medals and one short of the NSAs’ target of 60 gold medals. The performance of the Malaysian Contingent was truly outstanding and demonstrated the true ‘Malaysia Boleh’ spirit.

Out of the 39 sports, the Malaysian Contingent participated in, 13 sports won gold medals. The four disciplines of Aquatics, namely Diving won 7 gold medals, Synchronized Swimming won 5 gold medals, Swimming won 5 gold medals and Open Water Swimming won 2 gold medals. Track Cycling winning 7 gold medals, Athletics winning 6 gold and Tenpin Bowling winning 5 gold medals were also very outstanding. Karate with 4 gold medals, Water Ski with 4 gold medals, Pencak Silat and Wushu, each winning 3 gold medals, Archery, Fencing and Shooting each winning 2 gold medals, with Football and Snooker each winning 1 gold medal each, were the other outstanding sports. 8 other sports won silver and bronze medals, while 10 sports won bronze medals only. In total, 31 sports out of the 39 sports won medals at the 26th SEA Games.


The 8 sports that did not win any medals are Baseball, Bridge, Shorinji Kempo, Softball, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Volleyball. Baseball, Shorinji Kempo, Softball (men’s & women’s team) and Water Polo (men’s & women’s teams) were defeated in all their matches. The Men’s Indoor Volleyball team won one match (against Cambodia) and lost 4 matches. The Men’s Bridge team drew one match and lost all the rest. All the above except for the Women’s Water Polo participated under Category B.

The table below shows that, excluding the 2001 SEA Games, when Malaysia was the host, the Malaysian Contingents have been consistently winning around 10% of the gold medals at stake, since the 1997 SEA Games. The highest was at the 1999 Brunei Darussalam SEA Games, with 24.78% and the lowest was at the 2003 Vietnam SEA Games, with 9.68%.


Another important point to note is that the sports of Swimming, Diving, Athletics, Tenpin Bowling, Cycling, Gymnastics, Karate, Pencak Silat, Sailing, Shooting, and Wushu have been very consistent in winning gold medals, for the period 1997 to 2011. Squash is another sport which won many gold medals, whenever it is included in the programme. Thus to maintain the gold winning pattern of the Malaysian Contingent, it is important to ensure that the above sports continue to deliver the gold medals in future SEA Games, and also to identify and develop a few more sports that could contribute gold medals.


YEAR
1977
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013


HOST COUNTRY
INA
BRU
MAS
VIE
PHI
THA
LAO
INA
MYA
Aquatics











Swimming
4
7
9
7
4
7
9
5
Yes
Diving
0
3
8
1
5
7
6
7
Yes
Syn. Swimming
1
-
2
-
-
-
-
5
No
Open Water
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
No
Archery
0
-
0
2
3
2
1
2
Yes
Athletics
16
12
8
8
8
7
6
6
Yes
Badminton
0
1
2
2
2
0
2
0
Yes
Billiards Sport
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
Yes
Bowling Tenpin
5
7
7
-
3
4
-
5
No
Boxing
0
-
2
0
0
0
2
0
Yes
Cycling
1
2
3
1
4
4
0
7
Yes
Equestrian
-
-
5
-
1
4
-
0
Yes
Football
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
Yes
Gymnastics
5
-
16
9
10
2
-
0
No
Karate
2
7
9
2
4
8
5
4
Yes
Pencak Silat
0
3
5
2
3
0
4
3
Yes
Sailing
2
-
5
-
1
2
-
0
Yes
Shooting
4
0
6
3
3
2
0
2
Yes
Squash
4
4
4
-
2
1
-
-
No
Taekwondo
1
4
3
1
2
2
1
0
Yes
Weightlifting
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
Yes
Wushu
2
-
6
2
0
2
3
3
Yes
From other sports
5
6
10
2
5
14
0
6
Total gold medals won
55
57
111
43
61
68
40
59
Total gold medals
438
230
392
444
444
477
372
554
% of gold medals won
12.56
24.78
28.32
9.68
13.74
14.25
10.75
10.65
Total no. of sports
34
21
32
32
40
43
25
43


Position                              3             2            1           5             4             2               4            4



The above table also shows that gold medal tallies of a few sports have been dropping over the last few SEA Games. The decline is due to external and internal reasons, the external reason being the improvements made by other SEA Games countries (especially Vietnam) and the internal reason being the sports concerned are facing difficulties to identify and train up new and young talents. Athletics and Gymnastics are faced with such challenges and need to take some concrete and concerted efforts to reverse the trend.

Sports which have the potential to do better are Equestrian, Sailing, Shooting, Taekwondo, and Weightlifting. With the non-inclusion of Synchronized Swimming, Tenpin Bowling, Gymnastics and most probably Track Cycling in the 27th SEA Games in 2013, Malaysia will be hard pressed to maintain its target of 10% of the total number of gold medals at stake.

The preliminary list of sports announced by the Myanmar Olympic Committee are Athletics, Shooting, Canoe, Kayak, Wushu, Silat, Taekwondo, Billiards & Snooker, Sailing, Cycling, Tennis, Swimming, Rowing, Karate, Traditional Boat Race, Judo, Boxing, Weightlifting, Archery, Chess, Table Tennis, Badminton, Golf, Volleyball, Futsal, Football, Equestrian, Bodybuilding, Basketball, and Muay Thai.


From the above list of sports, the Malaysian Contingent for Myanmar in 2013 will have to work harder to maintain its 10% target. Based on statistics, Malaysia has never won a gold medal at the SEA Games in Canoe/Kayak, Chess, Rowing, Traditional Boat Race, Muay Thai and Volleyball. Tennis won a gold medal only once, which was in 1973 and the last time Judo won a gold medal was in 1981.


One of the reasons for the success at the SEA Games for the period from 1997 till today, is the well-funded intensive sports development programme carried out for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. The spill-over from the above programme has benefitted sports. Since more than 10 years have passed and with the separation of MSN and ISN, better and more effective programmes should be introduced soon. OCM and the NSAs should also commence preparation for the 27th SEA Games 2013, by carrying out an in-depth study of the performance of the Malaysian Contingent at the 26th SEA Games, identify the weakness and issues and propose new plans, strategies and programmes to prepare the athletes and teams as soon as possible.


On the setting of targets, the present practice of setting them a few months before the SEA Games commences, is too ad hoc. To me, it appears to be more a guessing exercise then serious target setting, which prompted Y.Bhg. Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad to state in his weekly column in Utusan Malaysia “Sukan SEA XXVI Inndonesia, sasaran atau ramalan”. Targets by sports for the 27th SEA Games should be set well in advance and made public. A monitoring system should be introduced and regular assessment of the chances of achieving the targets in December 2013 should be carried and corrections, where appropriate and necessary should be made during the 2 years.