PUTRAJAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the decision to engage a prominent sports lawyer to assist Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s doping case was not a special privilege accorded to the shuttler.
Khairy said the cost of engaging the services of the lawyer would be borne by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and not the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Chong Wei, the country’s badminton icon and world number one, was reported to have failed a random dope test during the World Badminton Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark in August.
Khairy said legal assistant would be provided to all athletes involved in doping cases but it would be up to their respective associations to accept or reject.
The Youth and Sports Minister also confirmed that a number of candidates had applied for the post of National Sports Council (NSC) director-general which was advertised in the ministry’s official website on Monday.
“We want to look for the best candidate for the post. There is no such thing as we are going to employ a foreigner. There is no reason to jump to conclusions because we have just started receiving the applications,” said Khairy when commenting on reports, including the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) honorary secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi’s comment on employing a foreign DG.
The post of the NSC DG fell vacant after the contract of Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong was not renewed, apparently after the failure of the national contingent at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. — Bernama