SRAM- A 5 Star Association? (Part 1)

SRAM has been accorded a 5 star rating by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) together with Lawn Bowls and Sepak Takraw. These are the only 3 sports to get the 5 star rating. What about bowling? And where is badminton? Surely this 2 sports are better off than sepak takraw? They only received a 4 star rating. Below is the article from the NST.

Sportcheck: Five-star rating for three

By Christopher Raj

2008/06/17

THREE associations received five-star ratings while 11 received four from the 47 that came under the microscope of the national rating system. Lawn bowls, squash and sepak takraw were the special three while football, to the surprise of many -- including Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob -- was among the 11 with a four-star rating.

Conducted jointly by the Olympic Council of Malaysia, National Sports Council and National Sports Institute, the panel looked at three areas -- governance, programmes and achievements -- in deciding.

The associations were tasked with answering 124 questions -- the first 57 concerning governance, 34 on programmes and 33 on achievement.

The FA of Malaysia received 90.76 for governance, 82.89 for programmes and only 34.83 for achievements for a weightage total of 80.86.

For a five-star rating, an association had to have a weightage percentage of 90 and above and among the associations in the same bracket as FAM are the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC).

MTBC's total weightage score was, despite receiving 100 per cent for achievements, 87.83 while BAM, surely more successful than FAM, had a total score of 87.16.

Of the three associations which got five-star ratings, the SRA of Malaysia was highest with 93.92 for governance, 89.47 for programmes and 100 per cent for achievements for a 93.52 total.

The Sepak Takraw Association of Malaysia, which withdrew from the Korat Sea Games over a dispute pertaining to the type of balls to be used, received 92.50 for governance, 93.24 for programmes and 87.90 for achievements for a 92.14 total while lawn bowls was awarded 90.10 for governance, 92.11 for programmes and 100 per cent for achievements for a total of 91.81.

It is learnt the rating was merely based on the answers which were either yes or no.

The type of questions included whether the constitution of the association had been amended within the last five years, whether the sport had qualified for the Olympics and whether there were anti-doping procedures.

An NSC source said the reason why FAM scored highly was because it had, thanks to the millions that had poured in before, relatively good administration and structure.

"Some associations have been delivering results but they lack good administration and don't have sound development programmes."

Ismail Sabri, however, believes the rating system needs to be improved and has asked the three parties to do so.

OCM deputy president Datuk M. Jegathesan, who headed the joint-working committee, said the objective of the system is to help associations improve and not penalise them.

"We have put a lot work into this and the minister can call us anytime and we will explain how it works," said Jegathesan.

He declined to give a breakdown though as the rating had been done in strict confidence.

Having gone through the questionnaire, I found that the questions are too general to determine how good the governance of an association is. Also the programme implementation part is very grey and touches on a few areas only. Then comes the achievements which doesn't split up individual and team championships. Good initiative OCM but please improve on it. Plus I think you should do an audit once you get back the questionnaire rather than believe everything an association says as a lot of thought differs in the interpretation of the questions.

So is SRAM a real 5 star association? We will take an in depth look at it in the next part of the series.

British Open 2008

Kudos to Nicol for winning the British title for the 3rd time. She was absolutely dominant in the finals barring a slight lapse of concentration in the 2nd game. (Full reports and results available at http://www.britishopensquash.com/)

But the real surprises came in the men's event where Malaysia had 3 men in the main draw, Beng Hee, Azlan and Nafiizwan aka Wan. This is the the 1st time ever that 3 Malaysiana have made it to the 1st round proper of this tournament. Beng Hee was defeated by Wilstrop, who was in the finals, in the last 16 while Azlan beat an injury bearing Ramy to get to the quarters only to lose to Lincou in a tight match.

But it was Wan who stole the limelight from his fellow compatriots when he qualified for the 1st round and lost to eventual champion, Palmer. Here are some quotes about him.

ALL THE RESPECT…

David Palmer is one of the most professional players on the circuit, and that, my friend, starts with not taking any opponent lightly, and making it as hard for them as possible.

And today, that’s exactly what the number 5 in the world did against Wan, ranked 70. He applied pressure from the start, took a good lead every time, and although the Malaysian was able to wrong foot him several times, and also found some lovely short shots, David never left the head of the race….

On a personal note, we saw today how fair and honest that young player is, as several times I know a few players who would have asked lets for some shots, but he never asked for, and on the last shot of the second game, David, who couldn’t see his own shot at the front, asked Wan if the ball was good. Would have been so easy for him to say, “not sure”. But he said, “yes yes, absolutely”…

Like I told you yesterday, a real gem that Wan is, and I hope he’ll do well on the circuit, we need players like him… From Squashsite

And this is from Palmer:

"I had a few bad results in my last events, so I’ve got to do everything possible to find my form again…

"I didn’t see him play, but I knew he is training with Peter Genever and Azlan, and I knew he had to be a good player. I tried to play a few hard rallies each game to keep him under pressure, and that paid off.

"He was probably a bit tired from the two qualifier rounds, but for what I could judge, he is pretty explosive, and I made sure that I applied enough pressure to make him play a few unforced errors.

"Obviously, he is a strong, dedicated player, good with a racquet, and his move to the UK prove that he is really serious about it, so I’m sure he’ll have some excellent results. And it’s nice to see another Malaysian on the tour apart from Bengy and Azlan."

Obviously Wan has shown the squash world that he is a true sportsman of the highest caliber, earning respect from players and journalist for his fair play and honesty. He is also earned some praise from Palmer, which is well deserved as Palmer is a former World Champion as well.

Wan is 22 and has been playing squash for more than 10 years. More importantly he has been training full time since he finished SPM and has been working really hard all this while. Hats off to the lad from Terengganu, he is a credit to all those aspiring to be squash players who are not the most gifted. He has proven that hard work and perseverance can help achieve your goals.

Dear Wan, Casper would be damm proud. I know I am. Cheers.

Some Things Never Change

Every year there is the MSSM (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia) tournament and it has been on for like close to 10 years now for squash. You may think that by now the people running the show would be quite good at organizing the various components needed to get it going, right? NAH... Still making stupid screw ups like they only came in yesterday.

You see, in Penang, the MSSPP (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Pulau Pinang) is in charge to make sure that the state has a team to participate in the event. The U-18 event is to begin on the 22nd of April 2008 and they are supposed to leave on the 21st. Now, the person in charge had told the team that they will leave on the 20th of April instead of the 21st. A check with the department confirmed that the departure date is the 21st. So which is the correct date?

The person in charge has yet to inform the players or hold any kind of briefing to inform the players regarding the tournaments and the requirements. Is it so difficult to have a meeting to brief everyone? Then the issue of attire... The person in charge has yet to distribute the attire to the players except for the duffel bag. No letter has also been given to the parents informing them about the details of the trip and tournament e.g. tournament venue, accommodation, time to drop and pick the kids, etc. This is absurd from the Education Ministry! How can such sloppiness be accepted? And this has been going on for the last 5 years.

The initial 3 years were very good and the person in charge was none other than Nicol David's mum. She was excellent with the paperwork and everything else. Then when she retired, the new guy was hopeless and it has continued till today except it is a new guy even though he was part of the team that the previous person that was in charge. They just can't seem to learn, can they?

They left on a Monday the 21st of April with 7 players and guess what? 9 officials... What the hell? And 16 of them in a 44 seater bus all by themselves. Then, no matches on the 22nd but only the opening ceremony. And the tournament schedule is only 4 days, 23rd to 26th April for both individual and team events. This means 2 days for each event... This is absolute madness for the U-18 standard. They will be forced to play 3 matches at least twice during the tournament. And even though the tournament ends on the 26th, they will only return on the 27th. This means 3 days of doing nothing.

Only plus point I can see is that the team is staying in a hotel nearby and this is a first after the many years of hostel that are not fit for anyone to stay in. So a four star hotel is indeed a welcomed option. Hope this stays on from now onwards.

This maybe my last post for a while as I will be in Shanghai from tomorrow onwards. All blogs are blocked by the ISPs there as part of the government directives. If they have changed that, then I will update you on my 2nd trip to Shanghai. Till then, happy squashing.


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