KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has no intention of using foreign players to represent the country, especially football, the number one sport in the country.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the government has no intention of taking a shortcut to success by employing foreigners but instead would concentrate on developing local athletes to achieve world standard.
“Our development programmes are progressing well. Although we are not using foreign athletes, we have been able to achieve success at the international stage.
“Our performances and achievements in the Commonwealth and Asian Games has shown that we are top in the Asean region although some countries have included the services of foreign athletes,” he told reporters after chairing a National Sports Council board meeting here yesterday.
Foreigners dominate AFF Suzuki Cup Ahmad Shabery was earlier asked by members of the Indonesian media as to whether Malaysia would use foreign players to represent the country in football.
At the ongoing AFF Suzuki Cup hosted by Indonesia, the Indonesian and Singaporean national teams featured a number of foreign players who have since become naturalised residents of the respective countries.
Ahmad Shabery said although such a programme was adopted when Malaysia hosted the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, the initiative was stopped.
“Malaysians are happy to see one of our own be groomed and not depend on foreign expertise to bring success to the country,” he said. — Bernama