SPECIAL COMMITTEE FORMED TO MONITOR ATHLETES' DEVELOPMENT

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- The Cabinet Committee on Sports Development (CCSD) has decided to from a Special Committee (SC) to monitor athletes' development from the pre-school level right up to university.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said it would be made up of
representatives from the Youth and Sports Ministry through the National Sports
Council (NSC), Education Ministry and Higher Education Ministry, who will take
an integrated approach to make sure athletes' development is not hindered at any
level.

"For high performance sports athletes, this is very important as
otherwise, they might not reach their full potential.

"The focus will be the 2012 London Olympics, 2010 Guanzhou Asian
Games, 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games, and the Laos and Jakarta SEA Games in
2009 and 2011," he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the CCSD at
Parliament Monday.

He said among others, the SC would be involved in monitoring 346 elite
athletes, 5,344 second echelon athletes and 18,500 athletes from the various
schools.

He said emphasis would also be given to the aspects of coaching in
producing world beaters.

"We will have special programmes to identify needed coaches and assist them
to gain the necessary certification to enhance their capabilities," he said.

Najib said the involvement of parents in allowing their children to start
at ages as young of six would also be stressed.

"Their interest and support is the key. If we want to see world beaters,
the start has to be from the pre-school level. We will encourage parents to be
actively involved and plan to hold competitions at the pre-school level to
identify and nurture talent," he added.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said
this programme would help prevent athletes with capability dropping out midway.

He added that teachers would also be involved in the programme and that
they would be given the proper training.