OCM Weekly Highlights - 22th March 2009

OCM Weekly Highlights 

22nd March 2009

OCM Official Website: HYPERLINK "http://www.olympic.org.my" www.olympic.org.my

Coming Events

National Sports Award for 2008 – 23rd March 2009 at 8.00 p.m. at Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur. 

“International Inspiration” Meeting – 24th March 2009 at 10.00 a.m. at OCM Board Room, Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur. 

Media Conference on 5th OCM-Pharmaton Ex-Internationals Golf Challenge 2009 - 25th March 2009 at 10.30 a.m. at Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur. 

International Under 15 Cricket Challenge 2009 for the Tuanku Ja’afar Intrernational Trophy - 28th March to 5th April 2009 at the Bayuemas Oval, Klang. 

Corporate Cup Individual Carom Championship 2009 – 4th and 5th April 2009, from 9.00 a.m. each day, at 2nd Floor, OCM Indoor Sports Complex, Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. 

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Tournament 2009 – 5th to 12th April 2009 at Ipoh. 

152nd OCM Council Meeting - 18th April 2009 at 10.00 a.m. at the Conference Room, Ground Floor, Wisma OCM, Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. 

28th OCA General Assembly 2009 - 26th April 2009, Bangkok, Thailand. 

1st Asian Martial Arts Games 2009 – 25th April to 3rd May 2009, Bangkok, Thailand 

5th OCM-Pharmaton Ex-Internationals Golf Challenge 2009 – 28th April 2009 at Kelab Golf Seri Selangor (KGSS). 

28th OCM Annual General Assembly 2009 – 30th May 2009 at 2.00 p.m. at OCM Indoor Sports Arena, Wisma OCM, Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. 

9th Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup 2009 – 7th to 21st June 2009, Johor Bahru and Singapore. 

7th Asian Netball Championship 2009 – 21st to 29th June 2009 at National Netball Stadium, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. 

1st Asian Youth Games 2009 – 29th June to 7th July 2009, Singapore. 

News Items

National Netball Carnival 2009

The Malaysian Netball Association, under the leadership of its President, YB Puan Suraya binte Yaacob, organized the National Netball Carnival 2009 at Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. The objectives of the Carnival was to promote and introduce Netball as a family sport for physical activity for fun and health enhancement as well as an elite sport which is competed at World, Commonwealth and Asian levels. Thus at the Carnival, Netball was introduced to boys teams, who competed among themselves. There were also modified Netball, such as 3 in 3 Netball, 5 on 5 mix males and females Netball, as well as competitions for Under 14 years children and Veterans. 

Free medical examinations were provided for the participants, exhibitions were put up by the National Sports Council Malaysia and the Institute of Sports Malaysia and sports equipment companies. 

Another objective of the Carnival was to publicize Malaysia hosting the 7th Asian Netball Championship at the above venue in the third week of June 2009. Ten countries, including Malaysia have registered to participate. One of the aims of the Malaysian Netball Association is to include Netball in the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games. To achieve the above aim, the Malaysian Netball Association has to popularize Netball not only in Southeast Asia, but also in Asia. 

The Carnival was officially declared opened by the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports Malaysia, YB Dato’ Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob

4th National Handball League 2009

The 4th National Handball League 2009 began on 22nd March 2009 from 9.00 a.m. at OCM Indoor Sports Arena, Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur. A total of 10 men’s teams, including a team comprising expatriates living in Malaysia and 10 women’s teams are participating in the League. 

From the experience of the first three National Leagues, the Malaysian Handball Federation decided to modify the competition rules of the 4th National League by reducing the playing time to 2 halves of 10 minutes each. The shorten playing time allowed each team to play two matches on the day, thus reducing cost and time and also allowed better quality matches, as the players played a much faster game. 

The Malaysian Handball Federation is to be congratulated on its initiatives in modifying the local competition rules, such as reducing the playing time, to suit the local environment. As the standard of Handball in Malaysia is not at all high and is only being developed from scratch, there is no benefit in playing Handball in full compliance with the competition rules of World Cup or Olympic Games, or even Asian Games. Thus as beginners, the important objective is to allow the players easier access to competitions and to play more often. After all, it would take a long time, before Malaysian Handball standards can reach even Asian standards. 

5th OCM-Pharmaton Ex-Internationals Golf Challenge 

Following the success of the Inaugural Ex Internationals Golf Challenge in 2003, the 2nd Challenge in 2004, the 3rd Challenge in 2005 and the 4th Challenge in 2007, the OCM will be organizing the 5th OCM-Pharmaton Ex-Internationals Golf Challenge on Tuesday, 28th April 2009 at the Kelab Golf Seri Selangor (KGSS).

The purpose of this event is to bring together former Malaysian international athletes from all sports and to provide a socially enjoyable environment for them to meet, interact and reminiscence. As in previous years, about 100 ex-internationals are expected to participate in the event. The inter-sport team competition will be for the Datuk Dr. M. Jegathesan Challenge Trophy. 

For those who are interested to participate in this year’s challenge, please submit the entry form to OCM by 20th April 2009. For details or clarification, please contact the office of the Olympic Council of Malaysia by telephone +603-2175 2802 or email HYPERLINK "mailto:fong @ olympic. org. my" fong@ olympic. org. my. Entry forms could be down-loaded from OCM’s Website HYPERLINK  "http: //www. olympic. org.my" www. olympic. org.my .

1st OCA Congress 2009 

The 1st OCA Congress was successfully held and concluded in Kuwait City from 12th to 14th March 2009. Out of the 45 Asian NOCs, only 24 NOCs presented papers, with the largest number of papers being presented by representatives of Iran, China, Japan and Korea. 

On the very important topic of Asian Games and Youth Sports, only three out of the eleven papers directly touched on the large number of Games and Sports in the OCA calendar, resulting in increased burdens on the NOCs to source funds to participate, to prepare the athletes and to carry out the administration work in submitting data for accreditation and entries. As a result of the discussion on the above topic, the “One Sport-One Games, One Games-One Year” resolution was included in the Kuwait Declaration. 

The “One Sport-One Games, One Games-One Year” concept means that no one sport will be included in more than one Games in the OCA Calendar and there will only be one “Asian” Games in any one year. The “One Sport-One Games” is easy to achieve, but the “One Games-One Year” will be difficult, if not impossible to achieve, unless OCA is prepared to drop 2 of the Games from its present Calendar of 6 Games in 4 years. 

In addition, in Asia, there are also the Regional Games, such as the Central Asian Games, the East Asian Games, the South Asian Games, the Southeast Asian Games and the West Asian Games. Besides the above Regional Games, some Asian countries also participate in the Commonwealth Games, the Francophonea Games, etc.