KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) have taken drastic action today (Wednesday) when they decided that they will not send weightlifting athletes for any international competition, championship or meet for a period of one year effective immediately.
MWF president, Datuk Ayub Rahmat said that the decision follows doping cases which have continuously haunted the sport and the national body, and it is also a move to show the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) how serious they really are in combating and addressing negative issues.
“This decision means that we will also not be sending our athletes to compete at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia come August.
“Even though we will not be sending any of our weightlifters for international competitions, we will still work hard towards strengthening development initiatives and training efforts for them.
“We will continuously monitor the progress and development of our weightlifting athletes,” said Ayub during a press conference after chairing MWF’s first Exco meeting at Wisma OCM here earlier today.
At the same time Ayub stressed that each and every weightlifting athlete who wants to take part in local championships and tournaments such as the Malaysia Games (Sukma Games) in Perak come September will need to obtain a Doping Free Certification and undergo dope test at the Malaysian Anti-Doping Agency (ADAMAS).
“If there are athletes from the National Sports Council (NSC) or even states that do not have certification from ADAMAS, it means that they will not be allowed to compete,” he explained.
Ayub however stressed that the decision is not meant to punish weightlifting athletes, but in actual fact MWF are very concerned about the future and saving the sport from oblivion.
Speaking further, Ayub said that MWF are also setting up an Anti-Doping committee made up of independent representatives, NSC, National Sports Institute (NSI), ADAMAS to ensure that the sport garners interest and the right kind of attention and publicity.
We agreed to set up the committee to get a wholesome, bigger, better picture on the cases that have happened apart from ensuring that weightlifting is returned as a core sports which is just as important a priority.
“The committee will take on the role of providing information on a whole and it will be presented three months after today’s (Wednesday) meeting. Apart from this they will also come up with suggestions on the most suitable products for the athletes,” he said.
For the record, this year alone there have been four doping cases involving national weightlifting athletes with one of them being Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Mohamad Fazrul Azrie Mohdad.