KUALA LUMPUR: The Government's move to provide Malaysian sport with additional monetary boost for high-performance sports – with the hope of seeing the country win it's first Olympic Games gold medal – has left a big smile on everyone's face in the sports circle.
Yesterday, Malaysia National Cycling Federation (MNCF) deputy president Datuk Naim Mohd gave the thumbs up to the Government's decision to pump in an extra RM30mil for the high-performance sports.
The good news was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his Budget 2012 speech in Parliament yesterday.
The additional allocation of RM30mil will see Government's total contribution for high-performance sports soaring to RM84mil. The money will be used to train young potential athletes so that they can compete and succeed in international sports competition.
The sports under the list includes football, badminton, squash, bowling, diving, archery and cycling.
Naim said that the extra allocation of RM30 million was timely.
"There have been a critical period when we had to cut down on many things because of limited budget. Now, the government are coming in to help. All of us strongly appreciate this good gesture by the government," said Naim.
"We have received financial aid from corporate companies and sponsors. Now, the government has come in to help in a big way. It shows their seriousness in wanting to see an Olympic champion.
"This will certainly spur us to go the extra mile to achieve it. All sports association will surely be more driven to win medals at major events – especially the Olympic Games."
Naim added that they would ensure that the tax payers' money would be well utilised.
"It is the people's hard earned money and surely, they will want it to be used well. It is our duty to ensure that the money spent is justified," he added.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) secretary general, Sidney Tung envisions a better future for young bowlers in the country with the budget for sport announced by the Prime Minister yesterday.
"It is definitely good news to us as we can bring back the back-up squad into the national set-up.
"Currently, it is a difficult situation for the young bowlers formerly in the back-up squad as they have to compete with the seasoned bowlers from the elite squad to be picked for tournaments," he said.
The back-up squad was disbanded early this year as budget cuts from the National Sport Council forced the MTBC to reduce the number of bowlers under their wings.
"We have been suffering from one budget cut to another for the past three years and this is refreshing.
"We hope to send more bowlers, not only the elite, but also the younger ones for international tournaments to give them exposure next year," said Sidney.
It was also a good day for futsal and football enthusiasts all over the country.
To ensure that all walk of people live a healthy life style, the Government is allocating another RM15mil to build an additional 150 futsal courts to achieve it's "One Court for One Mukim" target.
Prior to this, the Government had built a total of 1,100 futsal courts nationwide with another 527 courts still under construction.
Yesterday, the Government also allocated RM50mil to build football fields with artificial turfs, equipped with floodlights at 30 selected locations nationwide.
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