KUALA LUMPUR: Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) have welcomed the government's decision to place more emphasis on developing combat sports in the country.
TM secretary-general R. Dhanaraj said Malaysian athletes have a greater chance of succeeding in combat sports as physical size does not play as big of a factor when compared to other sports.
The decision to place more focus on developing combat sports was recently made by the newly-formed High Level Committee (HLC) for Sports Development which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
"I believe this is the correct decision. In combat sports exponents compete according to their respective weight categories," said Dhanaraj yesterday.
"In sports that do not have weight classes we can be at a disadvantage, especially when competing against European countries whose athletes are often bigger than us.
"Asian countries, including South East Asia, are also among the pioneers in combat sports. We ourselves introduced taekwondo here in 1974 so we have an advantage in this aspect."
Dhanaraj, however, urged the Sports Ministry to reinstate taekwondo in it's core sports programme. The sport was dropped from the programme in 2017.
"We are appealing to the ministry to be reincluded in the programme. Until now, we are still not sure why we were dropped," he added.
"It is important (to be in programme) for our grassroots development.
"When we were part of the core sports programme, we had development programmes at the state, regional and national levels with over 100 athletes who trained year-round.
"The state associations cannot afford to do this on their own."
Dhanaraj added that despite being left out of the core sport programme taekwondo continues to deliver at the Sea Games level.
National exponents won three gold, two silver and three bronze at the Phnom Penh Sea Games last month, exceeding their two gold target.