Ocm Needs To Discuss Before Setting Olympic Medal Target

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Bernama) -- With less than 50 days left to the Paris Olympic Games 2024, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) needs to hold a discussion with Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh first before setting medal targets ahead of the four-yearly games which will open on July 26 to August 11.

Its president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the discussion also needs to be attended by the National Sports Council (NSC) to ensure that it is in line with the 'Road to Gold' programme and to thoroughly studied whether the Paris Olympics will use the 'target without medal colour' formula that was introduced at the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to Hannah about this matter. We will discuss what is the best move (because) most of the athletes have a dream to go to the Olympics (besides) not wanting athletes to be in a stressful situation.

"They (athletes) have been trying for four years to get to that level so the last step is for us to give them our strongest support," he said after attending the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing ceremony between NSC and the National Sports Association at Casa 4, NSC in Bukit Jalil, today.

But before this, the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) made a bold decision when aiming for a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in line with the dream of the national track cycling champion, Datuk Azizulhasni Awang.

Meanwhile, he expects the Malaysian contingent to be strengthened with 24 or 25 athletes compared to the current 18 national athletes who have qualified to take on the challenge at the Paris Olympics in addition to hoping that the line-up of athletes can avoid any injuries.

Asked if there was already a name for the flag bearer at the four-year games, he said there had been no discussion on the matter yet.

-- BERNAMA