PUTRAJAYA, Oct 30 — The lucrative Podium Programme will come under the purview of the National Sports Council (NSC) while the Kita Juara programme has seen its last days, according to Youth and Sports minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

Podium was formed in 2016 after the disappointing 2014 Commonwealth Games when Malaysia returned with six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.

It has an allocation of RM75 million to help Malaysia win her first gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Before today, Podium was under the jurisdiction of the National Sports Institute (NSI), the body that handles advance national sports science, medicine and technology in Malaysia.

Foreign experts were brought in on high salaries to help nurture the nation’s best and these athletes get extra benefits like higher salaries and access to the best sports science money can buy.

However the national teams’ failure to do well at this year’s Commonwealth (returned with a medal haul of (7-5-12) and Asian games (7-13-16) has cast doubts on the programme’s ability to deliver the said gold medal.

As for the Kita Juara programme — started in September 2015 by former sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin, with the objective of getting Malaysia to finish on top at the KL 2017 Sea games — is now officially history.

"Sometime in November we will be meeting with all the national associations to discuss implementing this new tier system,” Saddiq told reporters after the High Performance Command and Control meeting at the ministry today.

"The tier-based system will be based on who can deliver a podium finish. We are using KPI (Key Performance Index) for both athletes and their coaches in order to ensure the best of the best are well trained and prepared.

"This means we have to re-evaluate all the athletes’ contracts. We want to reward the deserving and channel our funds to sports that have higher chance of success.

"This will give us the ability and flexibility to identify potential athletes and that way we can better determine how much money to spend for that particular person and his or her chosen discipline,” added the 25-year-old MP for Muar.

Athletes like Lee Chong Wei (badminton), Nicol David (squash), Azizulhasni Awang (cycling) and divers Pandelela Rinong and Cheong Jun Hoong (diving) are among the highest earners as they are world champions.

There will be four-tiers in the new programme:

Tier-1: Athletes with proven track record of Olympic and Paralympic participation. They must have potential to win medals. Badminton, cycling and diving are confirmed in this category.

Tier-2: Seventeen sports that have won medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games plus 10 Para-Asian sports.

Tier-3: Sports contended at the SEA and Para-Asean Games. Only gold medallists qualify to be in this category and they are aiming for the 2019 Sea and Para Asean games.

Tier-4: Non-competitive sports. Those in this category will be given grants and depending on their performance at international level may move up the rung.

These decisions spell the end of the national back-up programme, Kita Juara, with its name possibly a pun alluding to former sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s initials.

"The National Sports Institute (NSI) will continue their sports science and medicine role while Podium’s now under NSC jurisdiction.” Saddiq said.

"As for allocation of funds, how much there is and how were going to distribute it,  I can only tell you after meeting the national associations and getting their feedback.

"This restructuring does not mean it’s the end for sports that don’t contribute medals. It’s a ‘revolving door’ policy. If there is potential in any sport or athlete to do the nation proud they can be absorbed into the higher tiers upon review.

"This review will be done periodically.”

As Saddiq was about to leave he was asked if Podium would maintain its name,  to which he answered, "We shall see.”

Sports that are under the new Tier System and their targets:

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Badminton, cycling, diving.

Asian Games 2022: Bowling, Squash, Sepaktakraw, Cycling, Sailing, Equestrian, Diving, Hockey, Taekwondo, Karate and Archery.

Commonwealth Games 2022: Diving, Weightlifting, Badminton, Gymnastics, Lawn Bowls, Squash, Table Tennis

Sea Games 2019: Diving, Swimming, Badminton, Cycling, Basketball, Artistic and Rythmic Gymnastics, Karate, Archery, Shooting, Muay, Athletics, Sailing, Sepaktakraw, Squash, Taekwondo, Bowling, Boxing, Wushu.

Para-Sports

Paralympics Tokyo 2020: Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Badminton, Powerlifting

Para-Asian Games 2022: Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Cycling, Lawn Bowls, Swimming, Table Tennis, Powerlifting, Sailing, Bowling.

Para-Commonwealth Games 2022: Athletics, Swimming, Powerlifting, Shooting.

Para-Asean games 2019: Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Badminton, Boccia, Football VI (Virtually Impaired) and Football CP (Cerebral Palsy), Goalball, Table Tennis, Powerlifting, Swimming, Shooting, Bowling, Sitting Volleyball, Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair Basketball, Chess.