SHAKAM Incentives For Team Events Need To Be Reviewed - PSM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- The National Sports Incentive Scheme (SHAKAM) for team events, especially those involving more than five players, should be reviewed to ensure athletes receive rewards that are commensurate with their sacrifices.

Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia (PSM) president Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan believes the disparity between the RM80,000 incentive for individual gold medallists and the RM15,000 per athlete awarded to sepak takraw players in team events needs to be looked into by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) and the National Sports Council (NSC).

“My view as the PSM president is that players are grateful for the SHAKAM incentives provided by the KBS and NSC, but we must take into account the concerns voiced by national team tekong Mohammad Syahir Mohd Rosdi and several sepak takraw fans.

“My personal view is that the ministry and NSC should review the SHAKAM incentives, especially for team events or events that involve more than five players, because the gap between individual and team events is simply too wide,” he said when contacted today. 

Aware of the allocation constraints given the large number of athletes involved in team events, he stressed that PSM were not demanding rewards on par with those given to individual gold medallists, but hoped for a more reasonable amount.

“We understand that team events involve many athletes, but we are not asking for the same amount as individual events. At the very least, we hope the matter can be considered, reviewed and the incentives increased to make them fairer and more reflective of the sacrifices made by the athletes,” he added.

Mohd Sumali said winning gold at the Asian Games, held once every four years, requires tremendous physical and mental sacrifices, while athletes in some team sports can spend several hours competing on the court. 

“Take sepak takraw, for example. If a regu consists of three players, a match does not last just 10 or 20 minutes. It can go on for more than an hour and sometimes even two hours.

“When it reaches the third set, the contest becomes extremely intense. They would have battled for two hours, and that is something we also need to take into consideration,” he said.

The national men's sepak takraw squad ended a 36-year wait for the team regu gold medal after defeating traditional rivals Thailand 2-0 in the final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in September.

-- BERNAMA