The state of Malaysian Sports

First a big congratulations to our Olympic Hero Lee Chong Wei. Despite all the odds against him he can get a silver medal. What do I mean by all the odds?

First there is a political obstacle. Our sports is all riddled with politics. Look at our poor hockey team. They were once ranked 3rd in the world behind India and Pakistan. And Malaysia can give these big names a some fight. But look at us now? The South Koreans and Germans can even whip our hockey team without breaking a sweat. Look at the state of our national football. EPL was not really popular in the 80s and more people watch our local state teams compete. But now, we only watch EPL while the local football team can rot for all we care. Sports must be kept professional without any meddling from politics. So BN, keep your hands away from sports.

Second is money. Money and politics is quite related. I really pity those guys playing football for the nation as they do not even earn enough for themselves. It is even worst for the state teams. The only sports that you can make money is badminton, but let us face it. How many people actually make a lot of money from badminton? Look at how the footballers are paid in Europe and US. Yes, even in US where the football is not as popular as here, you can actually make a living out of it. We need to make sports like something of a professional job that you can earn a living from or else most parents will not even think to let their kids play basketball for the country or even a club.

Third is there is no direction for any of the sports including badminton. You don't believe me? Who will be Lee Chong Wei's replacement? For the past 1 year or so, there is no one. If he is injured then that's it. What is the turn around plan for our football team? Are we there yet? Who are the people that is going to replace the aging athletes? Your guess is as good as mine. Since there is no direction, there will be no proper training.

Fourth is no proper training program. We are talking about programs that will enable our athletes to compete head to head. Let me give you an example. Look at the body built of Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. Can you see the difference? While Lin Dan's body is full of rippling muscles, Lee Chong Wei's body.. well more of a bone. Athletes are trained from young age as you can see in England where a number of their footballers and in US where the basketball players are trained from young age. Also there is a structured program to train these athletes. A proper diet to build up the necessary body to compete and also the proper workout other than the in game training to get the body conditioned for the game. I have been reading up on body conditioning and diet for sports and I can say I am practicing it now. To my surprise, even with my age (I am near 30 now) I can give the guys in their early 20s a good fight in a basketball court. These players I am talking about are not ordinary Joes, they represent their respective school previously. I can even jump higher now.

Fifth and final is the mental conditioning of the athletes. I pity Lee Chong Wei for having to take the pressure of the nation in his hand. Who does he have to turn to? In some professional sports, there are psychologist who would help to mentally condition the athletes so they can perform their best. We only have our untrained coach. No offense, but mental conditioning is very different from physical coaching.

The fact that Lee Chong Wei manage to get a silver with these 5 obstacles, is a testament of his achievement. the same goes for Nicol David. Did you know that she worked really hard to get where she is today? And she trained during her tender age with the right condition. That is why she is a success today. There was no government sponsors. No one even think that she can succeed. But now the government is clamoring over her and claim that she is a success of Malaysia. I beg to differ. She is a success of herself.