KUALA LUMPUR — Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has issued a firm ultimatum to Malaysia Athletics (MA): resolve internal disputes immediately or risk compromising athlete preparations ahead of key competitions.
“I’m not going to make any further comments on Malaysia Athletics until they’ve sorted out their internal discussions among committee members, their training plans, and all that,” Hannah said during her ministry’s Hari Raya Open House at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil today.
“I’ve just given them (MA) an ultimatum to speed things up, because I don’t want my athletes’ preparations to be affected.”
Her remarks follow ongoing turmoil within the national athletics body, which recently saw technical director Robert Ballard deny claims of a training boycott by national sprinters and threaten legal action over what he described as defamatory media reports.
Hannah, however, is staying above the fray.
“I don’t want to comment on this statement and that statement because a lot of it was from news reports, but when I click on it, those news report links are also gone,” she said.
“So we (KBS) have told the national sports association to resolve this internally, ASAP (as soon as possible).” — April 21, 2025