Saturday February 2, 2013

We are not biased, says NSC boss

PETALING JAYA: The National Sports Council (NSC) have never been biased in giving training allowances to national athletes.

NSC director general Datuk Zolkples Embong said that “any athlete who does not train because of injuries or confinement will not get their training allowance and will be dropped from the national team”.

“The athlete will have to perform well in local competitions to regain his or her place in the national team,” he said yesterday. “This is a standard procedure for all national athletes.”

He said this in response to national shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi’s complaint that the NSC had stopped paying her training allowance and dropped her from the national squad.

“We’re not being biased to Nur Suryani ... she did not train for three months after giving birth to her daughter in September,” said Zolkples.

“I don’t know why she’s annoyed with us ... in the past, other national women athletes also did not receive their training allowances when they were in confinement,” said Zolkples.

“Bowler Shalin Zulkifli was dropped from the national squad after she gave birth a couple of years ago. She took a long time to regain her place in the team but she didn’t complain.

“So, what’s Nur Suryani complaining about? After all, she still gets her monthly training allowance from the Armed Forces.

“She should be grateful to us as we paid for her husband to travel with her for the London Games last August when she was eight months pregnant. That was the first time in the history of the Games that an athlete had the privilege of taking her husband along for the Olympics.”

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