KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) will make a formal complaint to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) failure to clarify the reason why weightlifter Azizah Fadzil was denied an Olympic berth.

PABM president Zafarul Akhbar Kassim said he would discuss the matter with the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) before raising the matter with the IOC next week as the IWF had failed to give a satisfactory answer on Azizah’s status.

“I had contacted IWF several times to seek clarification on Azizah’s position, but the responses have been somewhat disappointing. They seem to be playing a tug-of-war game with us by giving excuses. They told me that the matter would be investigated.

“I do not want to see Azizah’s hopes dash as she had been training for the past few years for the Olympics,” said Zafarul.

The OCM had reported that the single slot allocated to Malaysia earlier had been taken away and given to Vietnam.

Malaysia were ranked fifth in Asia previously in the 53kg event at the recent Asian Zone qualifying round in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and had automatically secured a berth to London.

However, the change in the ranking recently saw Vietnam replacing Malaysia in fifth spot and deemed to have qualified instead.

Hence, Azizah, 21, who was selected by the MWF for the London Games, will miss the Olympics. — Bernama

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