The National Sports Council (NSC) is more concerned over the threat posed by Covid-19 than the ongoing political uncertainty in the country.
NSC director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said it’s business as usual as far as his agency is concerned after Malaysians were given a rude shock following the resignation of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Monday. Dr Mahathir now serves as the interim prime minister, while his Pakatan Harapan ministers have since packed up and left their offices in Putrajaya.
“The instruction by the Chief Secretary to the Government is that we continue as it is. It’s business as usual,” said Ahmad Shapawi.
“There is no disruption to our budgets as the money allocated has already been channelled to the various programmes, including the RM22.5 million for the Road To Tokyo programme.”
Ahmad Shapawi, who is in Johor inspecting the venues for the upcoming Malaysia Games, said the bigger threat was in fact Covid-19.
Many sporting events have been cancelled or postponed, leaving athletes in a limbo in their run up to the Tokyo Olympics that starts on July 24.
The latest casualties of the virus are two badminton competitions – next week’s German Open 2020 and the Polish Open scheduled at the end of March. Both are qualifying events for the Tokyo Games.
International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound warned that Covid-19 could result in the cancellation of the Olympics but the Japan government and Tokyo Olympics organiser gave the assurance of a “safe Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The outbreak has infected over 80,000 people and killed more than 2,700 worldwide, including five in Japan.
“The Covid-19 seems to be a bigger threat for us at the moment. Tournaments have been disrupted and this in return disrupts our athletes’ preparation ahead of the Olympics.
“We have to soldier on and give our best. It’s not just us as other nations are facing the same issue,” he added.
