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Wednesday October 8, 2008

Gymnastics: MGF want man with the Midas touch to beef up women’s team

By RAJES PAUL

KUALA LUMPUR: Russian Mikhail Gutsalyuk is known as the coach with a Midas touch for Malacca.

Now, the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) and National Sports Council (NSC) want him to come back to add more depth in the national women’s artistic team.

When all paper work is finalised, Gutsalyuk will take charge of the women’s elite squad for the first time.

Gutsalyuk is a long-time serving foreign coach in Malaysia. He was one of the coaches in the national training set-up between 1998 and 2001 before leaving for Malacca on a mission to spot and groom potential talent.

Under his guidance, Malacca dominated Sukma (Malaysia Games) since the 2004 edition in Negri Sembilan.

Several of his charges are currently in the national team, including Cheong See Teng, Nabihah Ali,Tracie Ang and Loh Hui Xin. And See Teng is seen as the next top Malaysian gymnast.

There was a need to find a chief coach following the departure of Du Hongwei of China, who was in charge of the girls since 2001.

MGF secretary N. Shanmugarajah said that Gutsalyuk had a proven track record as far as handling the women’s artistic team was concerned.

“He has been here for over 10 years. Both the MGF and the NSC are considering taking him in. For now, we just have to tie up a few loose ends like finding a replacement for him in Malacca,” he said.

With gymnastics not in the programme for the SEA Games in Laos next year, Gutsalyuk’s main task is to prepare a team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.

Meanwhile, Shanmugarajah added that they would continue to find ways to strengthen the men’s artistic team.

The team are currently short of talent following the exit of former internationals Ng Shu Wai and his brother Shu Mun.

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