Malaysia’s Road To Gold Committee reveals 2023 expenditure but gave no details
The Road to Gold (RTG) Committee has revealed that it spent RM3,537,016.24 last year on elite Malaysian athletes in 2023, as the race to win the nation’s first gold medal in the upcoming Paris Olympics intensifies.
When asked how much had been spent, and what the funds were used for, the committee’s coordinator, Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said the money was used to help several sports edge towards their targets.
The sports that benefited from the RTG are diving (RM458,117.45), cycling (RM465,239.66), Badminton Association of Malaysia (RM1,182,645.83), professional badminton players (RM1,068,085.24), weightlifting (RM20,024.44) and hockey (RM342,903.62).
Stuart, however, stopped short of providing a detailed breakdown of how the money was spent for each sport.
“This is all we are revealing for now,” said Stuart.
He, however, said there will be several training camps for cycling and badminton ahead of the Summer Games to be held in the French capital in July.
The national shuttlers will have one camp in Hong Kong from March 26 to April 6 before the Badminton Asian Championship, and another one in China from April 15-24 before the Thomas Cup.
The shuttlers will also have a pre-Olympic camp at Aire Sur La Lys, in northern France from July 10-20. The Paris Olympics is from July 26 to Aug 11.
The national cyclists will have two training camps – Brisbane, Australia (March 23 to April 13) and Silverstone, England (June 9-13) plus one pre-Olympic camp in Mallorca, Spain, from June 13 to Aug 1.
Separately, the co-chairs of RTG committee – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh and Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria – revealed the introduction of a Fast Track programme for promising athletes aged 16 to 25 who have the potential to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
To be a part of the programme, athletes need to be medal winners at the Olympics, Asian, and Commonwealth Games, world championships, top 16 in the Olympic ranking, and top 20 in the world.
Bertrand Rhodict Lises, who has qualified for the Paris Games, will be part of the Fast Track programme but has been added to the RTG.
For the Fast Track, he will be joined by fellow diver Enrique Maccartney Harold and squash players Ng Eain Yow, S. Sivasangari, Aifa Azman and Aira Azman.
Other decisions made by the committee after today’s meeting were:
National divers Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Nur Dhabitah Sabri have been dropped from the RTG programme for their failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
A Team MAS (Malaysia) House will be based in Paris where the Malaysian contingent will receive additional sports science and medical support services.
Psychologists Frederick Tan and Rebecca Wong will be hired to assist the athletes.
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