By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, April 11: Sarawakian tennis athlete Muhammad Aiman Hamdan finally broke his silence over why he was not shortlisted for the national squad for the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Cambodia this year.
The 22-year-old Malaysia Games (Sukma) gold medalist claimed that no selection was held for this year’s SEA Games compared to the previous edition.
“There was no fair selection. If there was and I lost the selection, I am fine. For example, the previous coach made a selection for a tournament and I deserved to play in the last SEA Games. But this time, there is no selection and no programme,” he said in a video uploaded on his Facebook page yesterday.
At first, Muhammad Aiman stated that he was not selected because he had a knee injury which led him to stop playing tennis for a month and he was unable to train but insisted that he did some upper body training in the gym to stay in shape.
He also said that he was not selected due to him still studying and will sit for his final exam soon.
He then disclosed that he was not given any fixed monthly allowance which prompted him to do personal coaching with static movement to afford his commitment to the sport and was subsequently reported to the management team.
“The last time I got my allowance was in December last year or January this year. They asked us to stay at Bukit Jalil for the SEA Games programme but yet I was not selected for the games.
“The reason why I was not selected was because of the coaching and the second reason was because I skipped my physiotherapy session which is only that one time where I had an emergency.
“I don’t know why they took it seriously since I had an emergency but they still made the report and put it in the description that I did not attend the physiotherapy sessions many times. If you want proof, you can go to the National Sports Council or National Sports Institute to check how many times were my absences,” he added.
Muhammad Aiman further said he preferred to be notified earlier that he would not make the list rather than wait around for the announcement of the shortlisted athletes for SEA Games.
He also alleged that he was told verbally that there would be a contract signing for him but the matter was never realised even until today.
“We won bronze for last year’s SEA Games (in Vietnam) but (there was) no contract. How am I going to commit to everyday training without a contract?” he questioned. – DayakDaily
