NANJING: National junior swimmer Yap Siew Hui who is competing in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG 2014) denied claims that athletes in the Malaysian contingent were merely on a ‘holiday’ in Nanjing, here.
“Contrary to the perception of people out there, we (Malaysian athletes) have a major task here. We are trying our best to win but it is almost impossible to win against world class swimmers from 205 countries,” she told Bernama here.
However, despite her claims, Siew Hui who competed in the women’s 100m Butterfly yesterday managed only fifth place in her Heats with a time of 1:02.96s, failing to even better her personal best time of 1:01.71s that she had achieved at the 50th MILO/PRAM Invitational Age Group championships in Kuala Lumpur four months ago.
Another swimmer who saw action yesterday in the men’s 100m Freestyle, Lim Ching Hwang, also finished in fifth place with a time of 51.64s, and failed to move on to the next round.
Siew Hui claimed that probably luck was not on their side as she and the rest of the athletes had tried their level best in every competition.
“We have gained valuable exposure and experience. We hope to use it to become better in the future,” she said.
Malaysia’s barren run of medals had continued on the fourth day of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG 2014) as Malaysian athletes continued their dismal performance.
A Bernama report on Wednesday had taken the National Sports Council and the Olympic Council of Malaysia to task for not setting any specific target despite spending a huge sum of tax payers money.
The report said: The fact that the National Sports Council and the Olympic Council of Malaysia had not set any specific target for the Malaysian contingent despite spending a huge sum of money, may have given a strong reason for the athletes to be on an all expenses paid ‘holiday’ in Nanjing.
Athletes like Siew Hui must understand that blaming their lack of achievement on luck is a bad call since luck is just a minor element in sports because measurable sports do not lie.
That is the reason why the Olympic adopted the motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” which means ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’.
If athletes adopt the faster, higher, stronger motto in competition, success will follow suit.
Meanwhile, YOG 2014 chef-de-mission Wong Pei Tty came to the defence of the athletes over reports that the Malaysian contingent in Nanjing was on an all expenses paid ‘holiday’ in Nanjing.
“Our athletes are trying their best but competition here is world class,” said the former national shuttler. — Bernama