HANGZHOU: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said today a new formula needs to be implemented to ensure Malaysia's athletes remain relevant at the international level.
Yeoh said this after watching the Hangzhou Asiad, where she noted that several countries were willing to invest heavily in empowering their athletes.
She feels that Malaysia has no other choice but to adapt a new approach and formula.
"If we still use the same SOP (standard operating procedure), the same budget and formula, we will not get the desired results.
"I can see the difference at the Sea Games and now (Asian Games).
"The method has to change, the type of training we have to do needs to be changed a little.
"I see that Sydney Chin (wushu) needs more exposure and more tournaments, and this should apply to all athletes for them to lose the fear of competing," said Yeoh during a dinner function with Malaysian journalists covering the Hangzhou Games.
Yeoh said countries which won medals in wushu at the international level, had invested in coaches from China.
She saw this in Brunei's wushu athletes, and said that Malaysia has no choice but to do the same, and dare to spend big on sports.
Currently, the national wushu squad have only one full-time coach from China, Zhang Yongsheng, who was offered a two-year contract to design the training programmes for the 2025 and 2027 Sea Games, and the next Asian Games.
On Sunday, luck was not on Sydney's side when she ended up fourth in the women's Taijiquan and Taijijian with only a difference of 0.016 points behind the bronze winner.