Its minister, Hannah Yeoh, said the Road To Gold (RTG) committee, formed to coordinate Malaysia’s efforts in bagging its first Olympic gold medal, will only evaluate “reasonable” requests to help improve the performance of athletes.

“For example, if an athlete says ‘I want a bigger house’, are we going to buy a house for that athlete?

“The requests must be reasonable and aimed at supporting their performance,” she said at a press conference here today.

Yeoh was asked to comment on whether the RTG committee would consider requests from professional badminton players to be included in the funding programme to take part in international meets such as the Paris Olympics.

Yesterday, Paris Olympics chef de mission Hamidin Amin said the committee was ready to consider the requests of professional badminton players who are under its funding programme.

He said all athletes under the programme will be accorded equal treatment to ensure their performance levels are lifted.

Yeoh said the ministry was still providing support to professional badminton player Lee Zii Jia.

She said athletes should be given support to improve Malaysia’s prospects of achieving a gold medal at the Olympics.