| Name | Function |
|---|---|
| Bakri, Alia Anin Azwa | Player (Women) |
| Marmono, Roslina | Player (Women) |
| Wahiduddin, Nurul Huda | Player (Women) |
| Fong, Mi Yen | Player (Women) |
| Nur, Nabila Azman Hisham | Player (Women) |
| Nizam Bin Ab Bahar, Megat Muhammad | Captain (Women) |
| Lau, Gregory | Player (Men) |
| Long, Peter | Player (Men) |
| Mas, Hafizulhelmi | Player (Men) |
| Mok, Tze-Meng | Player (Men) |
| Tan, Khai Boon | Player (Men) |
| Majid, Abd Hamid | Captain (Men) |
| Majid, Abd Hamid | Delegate |
The men's team is as I predicted except that a fifth player is included. That's none other than MCF Secretary, Gregory Lau. Now, Greg is a decent player but what is the rationale? I might understand if he is taking on the role of captain but that has gone to Hamid Majid.
Hamid is also acting as delegate so we know who Malaysia is voting for in the coming FIDE elections (the delegate gets to vote). Probably he does not trust anyone else for this position :)
Anyway he has to be physically there when Karpov wins (as he will).
Nizam Bin Ab Bahar (hope I got the spelling right) is the women's captain. Nizam who? Yup, I do not recognize the name either. But some time ago, I was told that someone from Petronas will be in the team so that should explain it. What is the rationale? Maybe Petronas is a sponsor.
And talking about sponsorship here is a little story from the last olympiad. The three members - Yee Weng, Mok Tze Meng and myself - were asked to put up RM1000 for the trip. MCF was short of funds (actually they had none) and were waiting for Petronas to pump in some money. We were told that our money will be refunded once this is in.
I was actually skeptical about the whole thing but in order not to jeopardise the whole team, we agreed. Till today, I have not been re-imbursed. More interestingly, I was told that if I joined the current olympiad team, I will have to pay RM1000 as non-refundable deposit. To make it easier for me, the money will be contra with the previous sum so I did not have to come up with any cash. I was quite thankful for this last gesture. But since I am not in the team, MCF still owes me.
So everything is set and all is well again. Khanty Mansiysk at that time will be cold , but not so cold as to be unbearable. Hope everyone will enjoy it and come back with a good result!
5 comments:
Malaysian chess is definitely going down the drain,if any1 were to look at the representation of the malaysian team . Somehow some people manage to use the association for personal gains.This is not the malaysian team. Mas and mok deserve the places but Greg?? chess is no laughing matter when 100k were to be spent to send A team. Greg and co should come out with the reasons for selection.
Actually Tan Khai Boon also deserves his place as he is the current national champion.
I think the inclusion of one promising junior makes much more sense than Greg. Weak minded decision.
Unfortunately MCF does not have to answer to anybody (or do they?). So the point is purely academic. I also do not understand why Hamid is the captain. I can think of few reasons why this should not be so.
Good Luck! But I agree with the blogger and don't think this is the best line-up. The National Champ should be on the team.
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