KUALA LUMPUR: A group of players and referees have called for the Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation (MSBF) to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to address claims of abuse of power and breach of trust by the national body.
A spokesman for the group, Ithmayudin Zulkifli, alleged that ex-national players and referees have received bans due to disagreements with MSBF.
"I was informed that I got banned for organising a tournament in Kuala Lumpur through a WhatsApp message last year.
"However, I did not receive any letter detailing my wrongdoings or a show cause letter for any alleged infringements. I was not even called up to defend myself or plead my case.
"It got to the point where I met with the Sports Commissioner, Suhardi Alias, in July of this year to bring all these issues to his attention.
"Then, a month later, I received an official letter, signed by the MSBF secretary-general, detailing my wrongdoings and that I was banned for two years. But the start and end dates were not written on the letter," Ithmayudin, who is a certified national and Asian-level referee, said at a press conference today.
He claimed that the MSBF has not held an Annual General Meeting for a while and that the national body does not have a constitution.
There were also allegations of favouritism, as Ithmayudin claimed that the president of MSBF, Melvin Chia, sent his son, in place of a player who has been selected to represent the nation, to an international competition.
Ithmayudin hopes that investigations will lead to a change in the MSBF for the betterment of the sport.
Melvin, when contacted by Timesport to respond to the allegations, said the claims made by Ithmayudin were baseless.
"We did call him for a hearing and everything has been done with proper procedures. On the AGM issue, we had a meeting with the Sports Commissioner in May where we explained our situation.
"After the pandemic, most of the state associations became defunct, and when we tried to call for a meeting last year when things got better, we could not get in touch with some states.
"We met up again with the Sports Commissioner recently and explained this. He understands our situation and has also given us until the end of this year to hold an AGM."
Melvin said his son was selected to represent the nation at international competitions on merit and denied that he was a replacement for a suspended player.
"My son Darryl was included in the pool programme in 2016 as he was ranked ninth in the World Junior rankings in 2016.
"His first appearance was at the KL Sea Games in 2017 with senior players Ibrahim Amir, Kok Jken Yung and another youngster Almie Yakup.
"I have not had a development budget since 2012, so finding new talent has been difficult," added Melvin.
"Unless there is black and white, Ithmayudin cannot claim we are in any wrongdoing. This is defamation.
"He should put his complaint in writing to MSBF and we will investigate. Him going to the media and live on social media without proper proof is damaging, and we will consider taking legal action against him," added Melvin.