Talent identification to be decentralised next year

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KUCHING: Talent identification of athletes will no longer be only done from Bukit Jalil starting January 2015.

Ramesh receives a souvenir from Lee while (from left) Lucas, Ong, Joshua and ISN Kuching Satellite Centre staff look on.

The 16 state satellite centres will also given the responsibility as the National Sports Institute of Malaysia (ISN) implements its Strategic Plan 2015-2020 through the ‘Blue Ocean’ strategy.

“We have been keeping our expertise in Bukit Jalil. It’s time that ISN extends its services to a wider area and we are going to reach out to all the states,” said ISN deputy chief executive officer Ramesh Chandar-Nair Kunjuni.

“We have only 16 satellite centres but due to limited resources, we can only give support to the core sports and in some states only 12 sports and while other states, only 10 sports,” he told reporters after briefing Assistant Sports Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin on the ISN Strategic Plan at his office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur in Petra Jaya yesterday.

Also present were Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee, Sarawak State Sports Council acting director Lucas Kalang Laeng and ISN Sarawak Kuching Satellite Centre head Joshua Philip.

Ramesh said the existing centres in Kuching and Miri, which are presently understaffed, will be upgraded in terms of manpower, facilities and equipment.

“We are in the process of bringing in foreign experts from seven countries including Germany, South Korea and Pakistan who will help train former athletes and coaches in sports medicine, sports science and sports technology,” he added.

When everything is in place, ISN will be setting up 300 multilateral centres in schools throughout the country to do the talent identification, especially at grass-roots level.

Ramesh said through the Blue Ocean strategy, ISN does not only want to produce world and Olympic champions but also work closely together with the Health Ministry to produce sports medicine doctors who will be placed in various satellite centres in the country.

Apart from that, the ISN Strategic Plan is also looking at working with the government bodies to carry out the ‘Fit Malaysia’ programme.

Meanwhile, Lee welcomed ISN’s move to help out in sports development in schools.

“This is the right move as our young talents all come from schools and the application of sports medicine is very important to produce high calibre athletes,” he said.

“Our Kuching satellite centre was set up in 2007 while the Miri satellite centre was set up in 2012. Due to the skeleton staff, they are unable to meet the demands of our athletes,” he said.

After the two centres have been upgraded, Lee said the state government will be looking at setting up the third satellite centre in Sibu.

He is also happy that ISN has come up with the Strategic Plan to further speed up and boost sports development.

“We will work very closely with ISN in this matter and I have asked Dr Ong to set up a task force with ISN on how we can assist them with their plan and programme,” he added.

“I am also pleased that the government is now placing more emphasis on high performance sports so that we can do better in international competitions.”

He said Sarawak will continue to scout for new talents who will be groomed and developed to carry the sports challenges for the country.

“We have produced three Olympians and won an Olympic silver medal through Pandelela Rinong and I hope we can produce more of them,” he said.