KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) has clarified that its president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria did not use public funds nor take up coaches accreditation allocations to bring his family to the Paris Olympics.
Norza, who is also BA of Malaysia (BAM) president, was criticised by netizens after a photo of him, his wife and his son - replete with official accreditation cards - watching one of the Olympic badminton matches from a VIP box in Paris went viral yesterday.
This angered fans as a number of athletes were not able to bring their coaches or support staff to the games due to limited accreditation slots.
A statement issued by OCM today said that the accreditation used by his family members would not have served coaches much use.
OCM is an independent, self-funded umbrella body that governs national sports associations in Malaysia. OCM does not receive government funding.
"Tan Sri Norza attended the Olympics in Paris with his family, seated in the VIP area at Arena Porte de La Chapelle. This arrangement was made possible through a special quota granted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," said OCM.
"This special quota is designated for high-ranking officials such as presidents and secretary generals of national Olympic committees (NOCs), heads of state, heads of governments and sports ministers.
"It provides access solely to VIP areas and does not extend to the field of play (FOP), dressing rooms or athletes' accommodation at the games village, making it impractical for coaches or support staff.
"Therefore, even if such a quota were provided to a coach, he or she would not be allowed the necessary access to effectively support his or her athletes.
"Contrary to some incorrect claims, Tan Sri Norza has not used government funding for his family's travel. All expenses for Tan Sri's family were personally covered by him, with the OCM and IOC only facilitating his arrangements."
OCM added that all 206 NOCs from around the world receive these privileges for their VIPs and their accompanying guests.
Limited accreditation slots for coaches and other technical positions is not new at the Olympics.
Japan's head coach Park Joo-bong was spotted watching his charges play from the stands in Paris while at Rio 2016, then-BAM technical director Morten Frost Hansen was also unable to get an accreditation. Yap Kim Hock suffered the same at Beijing 2008, he was national head coach for doubles at the time.
Meanwhile, OCM urged Malaysians to focus on supporting national athletes in their hunt for the nation's first-ever gold medal at the games.
Malaysia has won two bronze medals in Paris so far via shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi (men's doubles) and Lee Zii Jia (men's singles).