KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — The government should look into ways to provide free medical insurance coverage for national athletes, who sacrifice to bring glories to the country.

The Malaysian Olympians Association (MOA) president Karu Selvaratnam said this is because not many former athletes, including Olympians, are living a comfortable life after retirement and many are unable to cope up with rising medical expenses.

“After all, these athletes trained hard to bring glory and pride to the nation by winning medals and getting the national anthem played in international events. Maybe the government could set certain criteria such as a minimum of five years representing the country to be eligible.

“Countries like Sri Lanka are doing it, providing coverage for Olympians with medical coverage. Our government should look into it as well. The National Athletes Welfare Foundation (Yakeb) is helping out the athletes, but the funds are not sufficient to cover the high medical expenses,” he told Bernama.

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Meanwhile, Karu confirmed that he is not defending his presidency during MOA’s annual general assembly (AGM) on November 22, as he wants to give way to young blood to lead the Olympians.

Karu, who has been the MOA president since 2016, felt it’s time for him to take a rest after volunteering in sports-related activities for close to 45 years since retiring as an active athlete, including reviving the association from deregistration.

“I was first asked to reactivate MOA back in 2014, which I agreed without knowing MOA was deregistered for being inactive for years. We then set up an interim committee and finally managed to hold our AGM in June 2016.

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“In 2018, I was asked to stay for another two years to get a successor, which I agreed. But now, I have made my mind to step down… time to hand over the responsibilities to someone younger with new ideas to bring MOA to the next level,” the 79-year-old said.

With nominations closing on November 5, former hurdler and MOA vice president Noraseela Mohd Khalid is said to be challenging former cyclist and MOA secretary Josiah Ng for the top post.

Karu, a former cricketer and track athlete, who represented the country in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m men’s relay events at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, hopes a new committee would be elected, to bring MOA to the next level.

“I wish them all the best, may the Olympians make a good decision on who to lead MOA for next two years. The new committee should look into ways to market the brand and enhance its value, so that more things could be done to help our fellow Olympians,” he said.

Among Karu’s notable successes during his tenure in MOA were increasing the number of members and persuading former Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar that the umbrella body pays the membership fee of all Olympians, starting from the 2016 Rio Games as MOA life members. — Bernama