MWF to Complaint Why Malaysian Weightlifter Denied Olympic Berth

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) will make a formal complaint to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) failure to clarify the reason why weightlifter Azizah Fadzil was denied an Olympic berth. MWF president Zafarul Akhbar Kassim said he would discuss the matter with the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) before raising the matter with the IOC next week as the IWF had failed to give a satisfactory answer on Azizah's status until today. "I had contacted IWF several times to seek clarification on Azizah's position, but the responses had been somewhat disappointing. "They seem to try to play a tug-of-war with us by giving excuses. They told me that the matter will be investigated. "I do not want to see Azizah's Olympic hopes dash as she had been training for the past few years to vie for the Olympics," Zafarul told Bernama on Friday. The OCM had reported that the single slot allocated to Malaysia earlier had been taken away and given to Vietnam. Malaysia were ranked fifth in Asia previously in the 53kg event at the recent Asian Zone qualifying round in Pyeongtaek, South Korea and had automatically secured a berth to London. However, the change in the ranking recently saw Vietnam replacing Malaysia in fifth spot and deemed to have qualified instead. Hence, Azizah Fadzil, 21, who was selected by the MWF for the London Games, will miss the London Olympics. -- BERNAMA