DIFFERING views were shared by national athletes when they were asked about their stance on training allowances.

Speaking to The Brunei Times during the sidelines of the Excellence Incentive Reward Scheme (SPKS) ceremony at the Green Room of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas on Wednesday, national sprinter Md Noor Firdaus Ar-Rashid Hj Md Idris said that the lack of training allowance hampered his motivation.

“I have never received any training allowance all this time,” said the sprinter who won silver in the 200m event at the 6th ASEAN School Games in the Philippines in 2014. “We’ve only received allowance for travelling (during) competition. We don’t even have sponsors for drinks during training and we also need to spend our own money for sports attire and clothes.

“When we don’t have this support we feel very discouraged to train, and sometimes I feel that I couldn’t support myself to do this… But I want to do this because this is my dream and I am doing this for my country. “I hope that we will be given allowances to train to help us with our training and well being,” he added. National fencer Mohd Hardiwan Shah Rahim was another athlete who was not satisfied about the issue.

“It is very important for us to get something like a monthly allowance to support our training,” he said. “For the ASEAN Junior Fencing Championship in the Philippines last year, we had to use our money to go there and compete and we also needed money to train for the tournament - so it was not easy.

“I am really hoping that the authorities can do something about this and we will finally get our allowances,” continued the fencer who competed at last year’s 2015 SEA Games in Singapore. However, two others felt that the lack of an allowance is not an issue. Mohd Haziq Asahrin – who won bronze at the ASEAN Junior Fencing Championship in Manila last year – said that not having a training allowance was not a problem for him.

“I don’t expect an allowance - although having it would be a bonus,” he admitted. “Even without it, I will still keep on training as I am doing this for myself and country,” he added. One athlete who is receiving an allowance is wushu exponent Mohd Sufi Shayiran Roslan, who won silver at the 8th Asian Junior Wushu Championships in China last year.

“Currently because I am joining the Sports Academy programme organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, I am receiving a certain amount of training allowance to help me prepare for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games next year,” said Mohd Sufi.

“I can say it’s still not enough but I have no problem with it and I am just grateful with what I am receiving at the moment. It also it gives me more motivation to keep on training and to do my best for the country.” An article in Malaysian daily The Star on Aug 19, 2015, stated that Malaysian athletes were to receive a raise in their allowances last September, the first since 2007.

Gold medallists at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games will have their monthly allowance raised by RM1,000 ($337) to RM3,500, while silver and bronze medallists will get RM3,000 and RM2,500 respectively. SEA Games medal winners will receive a new monthly allowance of RM2,000 (gold), RM1,500 (silver) and RM1,000 (bronze) a month respectively.

For athletes of sports which are rarely contested at large multi-sport meets, a world championship winner will get RM3,500 a month, an increase from RM2,500. National junior athletes will receive RM500 a month, a raise from RM350, while the allowances for their senior counterparts will go up by RM300 to RM800.

Part time senior athletes as well as senior athletes who are recovering from long term injuries will each get RM500 a month, stated the report.

Courtesy from Brunei Times