Former Polish national swimmer Bartlomiej Kizierowski has turned down Malaysia's offer to train its swimmers following Putrajaya's stand on Israeli athletes.

Last week, the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) announced that Kizierowski, who won gold at the 2006 European championships, would replace Paul Birmingham who resigned last year.

According to FMT, Kizierowski had expressed his disagreement with Putrajaya's stand in a Facebook posting.

“There is no place for that in sports,” he said, adding that Malaysia had made him an attractive offer with regard to the coaching stint.

On Sunday, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) barred Malaysia from hosting the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships to be held in Kuching in July.

This followed Israel’s appeal to change the venue if Malaysia refused to lift a ban on its athletes.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his government have defended their stand on Israeli athletes.

Yesterday, Mahathir was quizzed on his decision to allow the Israeli cricket team to participate in an international tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 1997 during his first tenure as premier.

According to Mahathir, he allowed the cricket team to enter Malaysia then to show that Muslims were not terrorists.

“We are normal people, we talk to people. We behave well,” he added.