Polish coach rejects offer to train M'sian swimmers due to Israeli ban
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.
No loss la. Please coach the Israel team. And dont come back. And dont forget..there you get paid using money from farms and industries built and stolen from the Palestinians. Stolen by hounding and killing people. You sport with this sort of people ? No international norms on behaviour ? Sport really color blind ?.Born in la la land yesterday ? You will never feel it unless you have been in a war and seen your best mate's brain blasted to pieces right next to you in a war that was completely unnecessary. Killing children who throw stones is not in anyone's books. Maybe they are ok in Polish and Chinese books.
Honorable people should not associate themselves with mentally corrupted nations. I'm sure he will have no problem finding attractive package else where. Good luck to him.
Yes, this Polish man is perfectly entitled to reject the lucrative offer from Malaysia, in the same way that Malaysia govt has rejected the Israelis swimmers. This Polish man should be respected for his decision.
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