A search for greater sports knowledge and expertise brought a delegation of coaches and staff from the Bandar Penawar Sports School in Malaysia to the Department of Sport and Recreation's (DSR) Leederville office on Monday 11 May 2009.
12 May 2009
Assistant Director of the Ministry of Education Nasir Deraman, the school's Senior Assistant of Sports Khairudin Saisi, coaches Riduan Abdul (fencing), Othman Rashid (cycling), Lamjah Halil (tenpin bowling) and Zakaria Lain (volleyball), plus a media officer, paid their own way for the one week trip.
Also on the itinerary was a visit to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS), Challenge Stadium and various training centres.
DSR Manager Sports International Hallam Pereira said the delegation was particularly interested in how Western Australia organised its sports and what we provide for our athletes.
"This trip is a search for information, expertise and knowledge, and an opportunity for the Malaysians to ask how we go about achieving the successes we do in sport from such a small population base and budget," Mr Pereira said.
"Australia has strong links with Malaysian sport. For example, our Australian swim team, where most of our medals come from, used Kuala Lumpur as its training base in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics.
"Malaysia's national netball team is also in WA at the moment, participating in competitions with our teams in preparation for an Asian tournament."
