By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Aug 21: Claims of internal conflicts in Taekwondo Malaysia cited by the National Sports Council (NSC) as a reason for dropping taekwondo from Malaysia Games (Sukma) are outright untrue, says Sarawak Taekwondo Association (WTF) president Azizul Annuar Adenan.
“When I took over the reins of leadership in 2018, I saw that there was no such thing (as inner conflicts) in Taekwondo Malaysia.
“I believe this thing is an element from outside saying that there are inner conflicts, (but it is) not true at all,” he told reporters when approached for comment at the Sarawak Borneo Cup International Taekwondo (WTF) Championship 2022 closing ceremony at Stadium Perpaduan here today.
He also rebutted another allegation by NSC that Taekwondo Malaysia has been exclusive and not accepting participation from other taekwondo bodies.
Azizul, who is also the Tanjong Datu assemblyman, said Taekwondo Malaysia has always welcomed participation from any taekwondo athlete in any tournament recognised by the federation.
“So they (NSC) think Taekwondo Malaysia is behaving too exclusive. That is just not true.
“We are really open because we are the parent body and a body recognised by the World Taekwondo Federation that organises the Olympic sports and others throughout the world. We are very inclusive,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, responding to allegations of low participation rate by states in Sukma, Azizul also rebutted this, saying that those claims were false.
He said in the previous Sukma Games, all 13 states including the federal territories of Labuan, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur had sent athletes to compete.
“So if it is said that there are not enough participants, it is just outright not true,” he said, reiterating that “politics in Malaysian sports” is the main culprit of this issue.
Despite all the hurdles, Azizul said, they still managed to send teams which won medals in the Sea Games last year.
With that, he said he would keep his hopes up that taekwondo would be re-inserted in Sukma and other national sports competitions. — DayakDaily
