He said this is to ensure issues similar to those faced by shuttlers Lee Zii Jia and Goh Jin Wei at the Paris Olympics do not recur.

“The ministry still gets flak even though the issue has been clarified. We need to consider not only the interests of all stakeholders, athletes and associations, but also the supporters,” he said at Universiti Teknologi Sarawak today.

Adam was responding to reports claiming that men’s singles player Zii Jia was denied the services of a physiotherapist and sparring partner, while Nova Armada, the coach for women’s singles ace Jin Wei, could not accompany her to Paris.

The allowance granted to Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Norza Zakaria to bring his family to the Olympics has led to dissatisfaction among local fans, who have blamed him for the issues affecting Zii Jia and Jin Wei.

Norza later clarified that he has a special quota as OCM president, allowing him to bring guests to the Games without interfering with the allocations stipulated for athletes and officials as permitted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Meanwhile, Adam said sports management is a challenging field, as the ministry must not only handle athlete performance but also focus on providing the best sporting facilities to ensure effective sports development.

“At the ministry, we constantly face criticism and pressure from Malaysians and need to be open to all feedback as well as take responsibility for improving our practices over time,” he said.

However, he declined to comment on calls for Norza to resign as OCM president.

“We have already done our best, but the accreditation cards issued by the IOC are subject to various limitations,” he said.