Sunday, October 05, 2014

Our Sports: Failure not Luck


A Kadir Jasin

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OUR sports officials set for themselves a modest target of eight gold at the just concluded Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

I say modest because there were 439 events at the games and we were a mid-level participants.

For that purpose of that very modest campaign, the country sent a 276-strong contingent headed by (Datuk) Danyal Balagopal Abdullah.

"It is just that in some events we were rather unlucky," Balagopal
Alas, like the August Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the national contingent failed to achieve even this modest target.

They came home with only five gold medals and collected 14 silver and 14 bronze. In Commonwealth Games, the target was seven gold but they managed six.

That, according to a Sunday Star report, did not stop Balagopal from being satisfied. (Read more here).

I suppose when you aim low, you will naturally be satisfied when your achievement is not far off that low target. So five out of eight may not sound terribly bad.

To justify further the contingent’s lacklustre performance, Balagopal threw in what Malaysians are good at – blaming it on luck.

“It is just that in some events we were rather unlucky. Otherwise, it (eight-gold target) could have been achieved. I do not think that we made a mistake in setting eight as our target,” he told a press conference.

I guess, if our country’s sports officials, starting with Sports Minister, and their charges think that luck is important they should give up competitive sports and concentrate on gambling.

Then again, even in judi, I believe, knowledge and expertise are important.

Granted that we are not in the league of giants like China, the host South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Iran, but to be beaten by smaller participants like Qatar, Bahrain and Hong Kong is an insult. MALU.

In terms of gold, Malaysia is on par with Singapore and Mongolia. Malaysians are very familiar with these two nations. Singapore has 5.6 million people and Mongolia three million.

Of course we are not bad at all if we compare ourselves to other low achievers and non-performers.

In fact, we can beat our chests until they are blue and black because we did better than the more populous Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh. On per capita, we are better than India.

And thank you to BH Ahad for asking “Gagal atau Nasib?” (Failed or Luck?).

My verdict is we FAILED and our stance on losing the wushu gold due to doping is shameful and lacking sportsmanship.

Wallahuaklam.

6 comments:

maniam said...

Aim high.Say 20 gold and achieve 10 and in the next game also aim high let say 30 and achieving 15. Even if we do not meet the target but we improve over last one in every games.

din klang said...

classic example....sepak takraw.... we are getting less patriotic

maae said...

In whichever way we lose. Mentally and physically. Imagination makes us stronger and hope for the best, at least. In real life gambling (not judi) its all about winning. Its all started with right knowledge, stiff training, proper coaching at the early age. China did that. Afterall its about perseverance, suffer and lastly, GLORY !

Luck in anyway depends on our believe. Like the Malays used to say,"sudah teruk berusaha demi mengejar cita-cita, kita bertawakkal dan serah semua urusan kepada Allah SWT "

Did KJ manage well ? Normally, when we oppose the mainstream, indeed we are the real loser. We dont bring good anyway....

msh said...

Salam Dato.

Mereka... Menteri dan semua yg terlibat diperingkat tertinggi dlm MSN wajar meletak sasaran 'goal' yg lebih realistik.

Bila mana kita meletakan atau membuat sesuatu sasaran 'goal setting' untuk mencapai sesuatu matlamat....kita mestilah mengikut kaedah yg diguna pakai umum.

Sasaran atau 'goal' yg dibuat mesti terlebih dahulu mempunyai ukuran atau kaedah seperti berikut;

1. Realistik...boleh atau munasabah untuk dicapai...'achievable'.
3. Ada tempuh...'time line'.
4. Khusus ...'specific'.
5. Boleh diukur...'measureable'.
Dll.

Kalau sekadar menyalahkan pd nasib sentiasa...atau meletak sasaran secara ikut suka hati ...inilah akibatnya.

Dlm apa perkara sekali pun..untuk kita mencapai sesuatu kejayaan..kita perlu ada suatu strategi yg khusus.

Jika strategi yg kita buat dgn meletakan sasaran yg tidak tepat dan tidak mempunyai ciri2 tertentu untuk membuah hasil yg lebih baik dari yg tahun yg lepas2...apa perlunya Negara menghantar begitu ramai perserta dan membabit diri dlm terlalu banyak acara?.

Lebih baik jimatkan sahaja wang...dan berhenti dari bertanding didlm acara2 yg kita tidak pernah menang dari sentiasa dimalukan sahaja bila asyik kalah dgn negara2 yg lebih kecil.

Pokoknya...kita juga mesti mengambil kira aspek kemenangan dan semangat juang yg tinggi dari cuma sekadar pembabitan diri sahaja.

Sudah smpai nya Negara wajar menghantar perserta yg betul2 kompetitif dan perlu membabit diri didlm acara sukan yg mana perserta memang mempunyai potensi untuk menang kerana ini baik untuk moral disamping memberi impak yg positif dan lebih bermakna bukan saja untuk perserta malah untuk masa depan sukan pd Negara.

Kalau asyik kalah sentiasa...didlm acara yg kita ada potensi menang....tentulah ada sesuatu yg tidak kena.

Lebih mengarut bila mana kekalahan ini berlarutan bertahun2 dan tiada usaha yg betul2 serius dari MSN menanggani nya.

Jika selalu begini...perserta dan menteri serta org2 kuat MSN memang seronok sentiasalah....makan angin selalu... semua perbelanjaan ditanggung Negara.

Bila kalah...salahkan nasib.

Sasaran yg diletakan.....tidak perlu didalami dgn serius...main tangkap muat sahaja pun ok.

Kalau dah begitu...Dato ..nampaknya...segala bajet serta aktibiti2 yg melibatkan kos oleh Kementerian Sukan pun kena lah diberi perhatian yg lebih dan wajar diauditkan selalu.

Terima kasih.

ismail muda said...

Datuk, Commanwealth Games ( CG ) di Scotland - S'pore menghantar team yg berhemah & realistik. China, Jepun, Korea, Bulgaria, Romania dll adalah bukan negara CG. Mereka jaguh2 pingpong dunia. Tetapi strategi S'pore mengena. Hanya tumpukan acara yg tertentu. Akhirnya S'pore menyapu 5 pingat emas dlm pingpong. Syg sekali kontigen kita besarditambah dgn bil VVIP, tentu kos pun besar. Membawa pulang beberapa butir pingat....

Joe Black said...

Dato'

Although in Competition, determination is of utmost importance, Preparation is even more important. Malaysian Leaders have Failed in Preparing its People in Facing not only Competitive Sports but also in Educational Excellence...

That says a LOT about the capability of Our Sports Minister and Education Minister. Maybe they are treating their Positions as JUST ANOTHER Dalliance in their Life of Luxury.

About Me

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I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).