NATIONAL ATHLETE\u27S PERCEIVED IMAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORTS IN MALAYSIA

Malaysian national sports depend on the support of the government to further improve its quality and continue to grow. The declining quality of Malaysian sports prompted this study which seeks to explore the perceptions of the Malaysian government’s sport development efforts through the lens of the national athletes and provide recommendations that could lead to strengthened sports development and improved quality of sports in Malaysia. This research intends to compare the results obtained from current and former national athletes and compare it with the Sport Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success or SPLISS Model (Bosscher et al., 2010) which identified nine pillars that influence elite sporting success and main issues in Malaysian sports. The nine pillars are financial support, facilities, integrated approach to policy development, structured competitions, solid approach to coaching provision and their development, foundation and participation, talent identification and development system, athletic and post-career support, and scientific research. The main issues identified in Malaysian sports include lack of management skills, incompetency of sport administrators, lack of financial aids, corruption, involvement of politicians in sports, and scarcity of availability and accessibility of venues and facilities. This study will provide a foundation of research on sports development in Malaysia due to the dearth of research on this topic. The full study results and implications will be shared at the University Research Symposium