E-SPORTS

NSC responds to Esports Malaysia allegation on lack of support

Stadium Astro
Seng Foo Lee
07/05/2019
10:36 MYT
NSC responds to Esports Malaysia allegation on lack of support
The National Sports Council (NSC) criticised Esports Malaysia (ESM) following claims that the former did not provide financial support for the Malaysian Esports Selection 2019.
The state- and national-level selection, which concluded last Sunday, was held to pick Malaysian representatives in Starcraft II, Dota 2, Tekken 7, Arena of Valor and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang for a national boot camp to prepare for the 2019 SEA Games.
Esports will be contested as a medal event for the first time in SEA Games history in the Philippines at the end of the year. Following its conclusion, a barrage of criticism was directed at the NSC for their lack of support, prompting an official response from director-general Ahmad Shapawi Ismail on Tuesday.
According to Shapawi's press statement, the NSC had held several meetings with ESM and agreed to contribute RM750,000 on the condition that an official request and a budget breakdown would be submitted by the national esports body.
However, he claimed that ESM proceeded to organise the Selection without responding accordingly, and their official request for the fund only came two days after the Selection was over.
Due to that, the NSC was unable to provide the necessary support in time.
"NSC can only provide financial assistance to a sport association as long as the sport association can provide a financial justification and a budget breakdown for all planned programmes.
"ESM should be grateful for the government's efforts in recognising their sport as a new and important sport as part of national sports development plans.
"ESM should now focus on identifying the players who can make an impact at the Manila 2019 SEA Games and improving their internal management as soon as possible," Shapawi wrote in the press statement.
The Selection's Grand Finals also attracted controversy as several state-level representatives were unable to participate due to short notice and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's brother attended the event allegedly in an official capacity.
For the latter, the Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister already dismissed the allegation.
Related Topics
#eSports
#SEA Games
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