Irresponsible Reporting

Squash has always kept a good relationship with the press and they are a vital link in promoting and disseminating information to the public. But lately there are some irresponsible reporting in what I think is just to sensationalize the news and hopefully gain the attention of the readers. These people are just selfish idiot who only think of themselves without realizing the consequences of their actions that can cause to the affect parties.

Here are 2 examples:

Wednesday January 28, 2009

Low accuses India of favouring their player Dipika

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern has accused India of favouring their player in scheduling the World Junior Championships in Chennai from July 31-Aug 5.

Wee Wern, a three-time Asian junior champion, turns 19 on July 25 and is, thus, ineligible for the world meet, which is for those aged below 19.

“India want their player Dipika (Pallikal), whom I beat in the final of both the British Junior Open and also in the Asian Junior Championships in Chennai recently, to win the world junior title,” claims Wee Wern.

“I was the top seed in both the British Junior Open and the Asian Junior meet and I was tipped to be the top seed in the world junior meet. They purposely fixed the championships after my birthday,” said Wee Wern, who turned pro in 2006.

Wee Wern is on a hot streak, having won the British Junior Open Under-19 title on Jan 2-6 and helping Malaysia lift the girls’ team crown in the Asian junior meet in Chennai last week.

And she is confident, based on those two results, that she would have ended her title drought in the world juniors in July.

“Now ... it’s all over for me to. But it will not stop me from concentrating on my Wispa (Women’s International Squash Players Association) tournaments to improve my rankings,” said world No. 42 Wee Wern, who last year set herself a target of breaking into the top-40 bracket.

“However, I am still happy with my rankings as I managed to improve by 20 rungs,” she said. “For this year I have set a modest target of breaking into the top-35 in the world. To achieve that I will have to play in about 12 tournaments.

“I will leave for Amsterdam after the Kuala Lumpur Open in March to continue my training with world No. I Nicol (David) under coach Liz Irving

Friday February 6, 2009

Squash: National elite coach to be named on Feb 16

KUALA LUMPUR: The Squash Racquets Asso­ciation of Malaysia (SRAM) expect their search for a national elite coach to end on Feb 16.

SRAM are scheduled to meet National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Zolkples Embong on that day to finalise the appointment of the coach.

Five candidates — three from England and two from Egypt — are hoping to replace Pakistan’s Jamshed Gul, whose contract expired last July.

It would have been six but former international Allan Soyza, who has been the head coach of the Squash Academy of Penang (SAP) since 2003, surprisingly withdrew from the race.

“We are not sure why he withdrew his name because he is an experienced coach. Maybe he felt that he doesn’t stand a chance against the five foreign coaches,” said SRAM deputy president Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Ali yesterday.

“We will have a working committee meeting with Zolkples on Feb 16 to finalise the right candidate for the job.”

Jamshed, who used to be ranked among the top-10 in the world as a player in the late 80s, was hired by the NSC a decade ago to prepare the national players for the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

He left in 2003 and was re-hired in 2006 and has since helped the national players improve on their world rankings.

The 47-year-old Pakistani guided national men’s No. 1 player Ong Beng Hee to break into the top 10 in the world and also helped him win the Kuala Lumpur Open and Malaysian Open last year.

He also played a key role in raising the standard of the game among the national back-up players.

Although SRAM were keen to renew Jamshed’s contract, NSC, who are the paymasters, were against it.

Syed Mustaffa said they needed a calibre coach like Jamshed to further raise the standard of game among the national players.

“We also need a coach to lessen the burden of another Pakistani coach Ajaz (Azmat), who has to train 10 players. It is too much for a coach to handle 10 players at one time,” he said.

As you read through the articles, you will find that there are a few quotes that are in RED. These are quotes that was never said mentioned nor was it at any one time suggested by the people who supposedly said it. As such, it is fabrication and false reporting. These 2 articles are from the STAR newspaper and I am very disappointed with the was the STAR allows their reporters to just fabricate things. This is not the first and I don't expect it to be the last. I am not against any opinionated writings but not when it defames people.

The truth is that Wee Wern was only asked if she could play the World Juniors and she answered no due to her birth date. She was also asked if she thought if Dipika has a good chance of winning since it is in India, she said yes. Then he asked if India purposely set the dates to make her ineligible for it, she said she has no idea. So, never in the interview did she implied any of the writings in the article.

In the 2nd article, I wanted to question Dato' Syed regarding the quote but the GM of SRAM explained to me what happened and some other reporters who were at the press conference verified his story. Dato' never said those words, all he said was that I withdrew and he didn't know the reason why. This reporter has been confronted before by numerous people but he still goes on doing his style of irresponsible reporting.

So, my advise, don't believe everything you read in the papers if you are a reader. If you are giving interviews, make sure you get a copy of the article before it goes to print. Otherwise, get a good lawyer and sue the pants and make some good money.

Happy squashing and cheers.