MSBF hope to get Klang Valley training centre
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation (MSBF) president Melvin Chia hopes that the sport will get its own training centre in the Klang Valley soon to complement the new training facility recently launched in Penang.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh officiated the launch of the Northern Region Billiards and Snooker Academy in Bayan Baru on Friday (April 25).
The National Sports Council had allocated RM500,000 for equipment for the academy while the Penang state government allocated RM1.3 million for renovation works.
Melvin said MSBF is grateful for the support given to the sport but stressed that the addition of a centre in the Klang Valley would further boost talent development.
"A few years ago, we proposed a Northern region training centre and a national training centre, but only the former was approved. We now hope that a national training centre will be set up soon," said Melvin.
"Our top cueists and Sea Games champions – Moh Keen Ho, Lim Kok Leong and Rory Thor Chuan Leong – are from Penang but Keen Ho and Rory came up through the ranks when we had our training centre in Bukit Jalil.
"When the national training centre was closed in 2012, we lost our base and could no longer run development programmes systematically. Our talent pool dried up.
"During our glory years, legends Sam Chong and Ng Ann Seng trained in the Klang Valley. Having a centre here (Klang Valley) again would be a massive boost for our development programmes and preparations for major games."
Melvin is optimistic new National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Jefri Ngadirin will look into the matter.
"Despite the lack of full-time programmes, our cueists have always delivered medals for Malaysia. The problem now is that our medal winners are aging," said Melvin.
"They might last for one or two editions of the Sea Games at most.
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