THE Youth and Sports Ministry has never covered up any wrongdoings involving athletes, coaches, officials or its staff, especially with regards to the safety and dignity of athletes.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ti Lian Ker urged victims to lodge a complaint and assured them that they will be given proper protection.

“In fact, we formed the misconduct and harassment in sports committee in 2020 to ensure the management of the country’s high-performance sports complaints is handled efficiently, orderly and effectively.

“There is also a 24-hour hotline as well as complaint boxes at strategic locations, including at their accommodation, for victims to lodge complaints. Safety, especially during the athletes’ training, is a priority,” he said.

Ti said this at a media conference after the Pahang youth and sports council casual chat programme in Kuantan today.

Commenting on the incident that was exposed by national diving ace Pandelela Rinong through her Twitter account yesterday, Ti said the coach has had his services terminated immediately while the head coach accused of covering up the incident did not have his contract extended.

Yesterday, Pandelela accused her former coach of often telling “dirty jokes” and that the individual had also gone on to rape one of the national divers some years back. – Bernama, October 22, 2021.