Azizah out of Olympics

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not have any weightlifiters in the fray at the London Olympics next month.

This is because the single slot that was allocated to Malaysia earlier has been taken away and given to Vietnam.

This was confirmed by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) yesterday.

Lost hope: Azizah Fadzil training for the London Olympics though her berth has been given to Vietnam after the ranking was revised.

 

Malaysia were ranked fifth in Asia previously in the 53kg event at the recent Asian Championships in South Korea and had automatically received a slot to London.

However, the change in the ranking recently saw Vietnam replacing Malaysia in fifth spot and deemed to have qualified instead.

Thus, Azizah Fadzil, who was selected by the Weightlifiting Federation of Malaysia for the London Games, will have to stay home.

The federation are still seeking an explanation from the international body for the change in status.
Malaysia will be taking part in nine sports at the London Games from July 27-Aug 12.

The sports are badminton, diving, cycling, archery, fencing, swimming, shooting, sailing and athletics.
All the sports, except for athletics and swimming, have already named their teams for the Games.

Athletics can name one man and one woman as wild card entries since none have qualified on merit.
Swimming too has several candidates who have secured the required times for their events and will name their team soon. Both the sports have until July 9 to make their selection.

The first batch of Malaysian athletes to leave for London are the badminton players and a team of medical staff on July 12.

The badminton squad will set up base in Bath for two weeks before moving to their accommodation in Wembley on July 24.

They will not stay with the rest of the contingent at the Olympic Park where the Games Village is situated.
National Sports Council (NSC) athletes division director Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said Malaysia may be given another six wild card entries, expanding the team from the current 28 athletes to 34.

Malaysia have been participating in the every Olympic Games since Melbourne in 1956, the only exception being Moscow 1980 which they boycotted over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.


The Olympic team

List of athletes who have qualified for the London Olympics:

Archery: Cheng Chu Sian, Khairul Anuwar Mohamad, Haziq Kamaruddin, Nurul Syafiqah Hashim.

Badminton: Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Chan Peng Soon- Liu Ying, Tee Jing Yee, Vivian Kah-Woon Khe Wei.

Cycling: Mohd Azizulhasni Awang, Fatehah Mustapha, Adiq Hussainie Othman, Amir Mustafa Rusli.

Fencing: Yu Peng Kean.

Sailing: Khairul Nizam Mohd Affendy.

Shooting: Nur Suryani Muhd Taibi.

Swimming: Bryan Nickson Lomas, Pandelela Rinong, Yeoh Ken Nee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Huang Qiang, Traisy Vivien Tukiet, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Leong Mun Yee, Heidi Gan.



THE STAR