KUCHING: National and backup athletes will be allowed to take part in only one event in the next Sukma in Perak if a proposal by the Wushu Federation of Malaysia (WFM) gets the approval of the National Sports Council (MSN).
WFM secretary William Kong said the proposals to the amendments in the rules and regulations for wushu in the next Sukma was resolved at a WFM management committee meeting last year and a letter was forwarded to MSN on the matter.
“One of the proposals was that athletes of the national squad or the back-up squad who have represented Malaysia in the World Championship, Asian Games, Asian Wushu Championship, Taolu World Cup or Shanshou/Sanda World Cup and won medals are not allowed to take part in more than one event in Sukma.
“This is because the association wishes to emphasise on the objective of Sukma which is a platform for new potential athletes and that it is not suitable for full-time national athletes to compete in too many events against the state athletes,” he said.
WFM had also proposed additional events and medals for Sukma XIX which are men’s duilian, women’s duilian, men’s sanda (3 categories) and women’s sanda (2 categories).
“Seven more gold medals will be awarded for the above proposed events which are important as they are widely competed in the international arena.
“Furthermore, the overall standings for Malaysia in international tournaments are usually lowered due to the lack of participation in the ‘sanda’ events,” added Kong.
Kong, also secretary of the Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) Sarawak, had brought up the matter in WFM management committee meetings in the past for a number of times but the national body did not institute further action on it.
“Under the new management committee, the matter was resolved with an unanimous decision to propose the amendments to MSN,” he said.