(finalised) targets usually do not deviate far fro

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   unsatisfactory haul at the recent Glasgow
  Commonwealth Games proves that national sports development is in need of an
  overhaul, and that could start with an audit of the programme that was
  intended to prepare athletes for the Commonwealth and Asian Games this
  year.

    Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said he will discuss the impact that the
  programmes, which started in 2011, have made with the national sports
  associations (NSA) involved but stressed he will have the final say on
  whether it is carried out.

    The national athletes won six gold medals in Scotland, one less than the
  target set for them. Malaysia won 12 gold at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games
  in 2010.

    “If we do decide to do it, it will take time. This is no ordinary financial
  audit, this is to determine the effectiveness of the programme,” said Khairy,
  when met at the flag handing over ceremony for athletes heading to the
  Nanjing Youth Olympics in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

    “Most importantly, I need to find the suitable people to do it
  (audit).

    “This audit cannot be done by the National Sports Council, National Sports
  Institute, Olympic Council of Malaysia or the NSAs as they are among the
  stakeholders. I am sorry to say but they are also the culprits of the
  situation.

    “Ultimately, all the funding used for the programmes were approved by the
  sports minister and it is at the entire discretion of the minister to conduct
  the audit or not.”

    He added the performances of the national athletes are expected to continue
  to improve at each edition of the competition, considering the continually
  increasing amount of public funds used to develop sports in Malaysia.

    “Of course we want to see a return on investment. The more you invest, the
  more you will want to see in returns but unfortunately that has not been the
  case.

    “It comes back to long term planning. Now the four years (of preparation)
  are up. There was not much I could do as it was ongoing but now we have
  another four years to prepare for the Gold Coast (2018 Commonwealth Games)
  and Jakarta (2018 Asian Games) and we have to get it right as it is difficult
  to change it midway.

    “Give me a bit of time to fix this.”

    Khairy, however, said that setting a fixed target at the start of the
  four-year programme would be unrealistic.

    “Each programme (for specific sports) does have goals from the beginning
  but to give a specific target at the start would be unrealistic.

    “We have to take into account injuries, availability and the form of the
  athletes going into the competition and this can only be done closer to the
  event when external factors could come into play.

    “For example, at the Commonwealth Games we had to revise our target after
  Lee Chong Wei was injured. We did not revise it after Pandelela Rinong got
  injured. Maybe we should have.

    “However in the past, our (finalised) targets usually do not deviate far
  from the initial target.”

    A total of 20 athletes will compete in 10 sports at the Youth Olympics in
  China on Aug 16-28. Former national badminton player Wong Pei Ty will lead
  the Malaysian contingent as chef-de-mission.

    Pandelela won two silver, Malaysia’s only medals, in the diving competition
  at the inaugural games in Singapore four years ago.