KUALA LUMPUR, Mac 2 – Sepak Takraw Association of Malaysia (PSM) president, Datuk Seri Ahmad Ismail was dead serious in wanting a change in the Asian Sepak Takraw Federation (ASTAF) leadership headed by Singapore’s Datuk Abdul Halim Kader.
Instead, the incumbent who has been at the helm for a decade not only ”whitewashed” his challengers, Ahmad Ismail and Singapore’s Mohd Nasri Haron in a three-corner fight, Abdul Halim secured 30 votes for the 2021-2025 term. Ahmad Ismail and Mohd Nasri got no votes.
For the record, Ahmad Ismail was the ASTAF deputy president last term. It is a bitter lesson for Ahmad Ismail who tried to play ”politics” in sports and paid a heavy price for that.
The embarrassing defeat did not stop at that for Malaysian sepak takraw. There was more beating to come.
Abdullah Salleh, who is the PSM secretary-general and an incumbent council member of ASTAF is vying for the deputy president’s post.
He also suffered a humiliating defeat with Thailand’s Charlem Chaiwatcharaporn and India’s Yogender Singh Dahiya voted in with 30 and 29 votes respectively. The other candidate was Indonesia’s Asnawi Abdul Rahman.
Another Malaysian candidate Yusoff Ali was also defeated in his bid for a seat in the ASTAF council for the 2021-2025 term.
The vice-presidents elected were Meas Sarin (Cambodia), Soe Naing (Myanmar), Sohrab Azad Khankandi (Iran), Masaru Misawa (Japan), Oh Joo-Young (South Korea), Syafrizal Bahtiar (Indonesia), Tsai Hung-Peng (Taiwan), and Nousad Ahmed Khan (Pakistan) with 30 votes each.
Thailand’s Boonchai Loorphipat was appointed ASTAF secretary-general with Muhammad Fariq (Singapore) as his assistant. Another Singaporean Nazarisham Isa is the treasurer.
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