ALOR GAJAH: The father of one of the two teenage volleyball players who were slapped by their coach during a tournament last month, said the family has forgiven the secondary school teacher and that they have moved on from the incident.
Abd Halim Bakar, 50, claimed he and his family together with the parents of the other players had agreed to forgive the volleyball coach and hoped that the issue would not be blown out of proportion.
He said the coach had contributed to the development of volleyball in Melaka.
"If we (the family) wanted to take action (against the coach), we would have lodged a police report immediately after the incident occurred.
"However, we have decided otherwise since our daughter did not sustain any injuries," Abd Halim said at his house in Kampung Melekek here today.
"The coach has helped to boost Melaka's standing (in volleyball). In fact, the coach used his own pocket money to develop the sport and train the state's volleyball team.
"Because of him, both of my daughters were chosen to represent the state and won fourth place in the Under 14 and 16 categories.
"Just because of this small incident, we want to disrupt people's income or bring him down?"
Abd Halim claimed that he was informed by his daughter that that was the first and only incident where the teacher had laid his hand on his players.
"After asking my daughter about what had happened and found no injuries on my daughter's face, I assumed that the incident is just 'normal'.
"My daughter said the incident made her want to give her best performance during the tournament.
"It is better not to encourage our children to join any sports if they cannot be reprimanded or have actions taken against them by the coach."
Abd Halim added that he and his friends were hoping that no actions would be taken against the coach to enable him to continue training their children.
"I have discussed with the father of the other player involved in the incident and we have planned to hold a meeting with other parties involved to ensure the issue will not prolong."
His wife, Hartin Wagimun, 48, said she was sad and shocked when she watched the clip which showed her daughter being slapped during the incident.
However, she said she was relieved and thankful after learning that the coach did not have any intention to harm her daughter.
The couple was asked to comment on the statement by State Youth Development, Sports and Non-Governmental Organisations Committee chairman V.P Shanmugam, who said the Melaka Sports Council would decide on the coach's suspension tomorrow.
This is despite the Malaysia Volleyball Association's (Mava) decision to suspend the coach until investigations into the incident are completed.
Mava also announced that it would establish an investigative body to look into the incident and contact the related parties for that purpose.
The viral clip of the incident showed the volleyball coach slapping two of his players during the recent 2022 Malaysia Youth U-14 Volleyball Championship in Johor, which took place from Dec 14 to Dec 16.