Misf Passes The Baton After A Successful Stint

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Wish for ISAM to continue the success of MISF and absorb the talents and technical team

The Malaysia Ice Skating Federation team at the 2019 SEA Games in Philippines 

The Malaysia Ice Skating Federation (MISF) was confirmed as the governing body of the ice skating sport (figure skating and short track speed skating) in Malaysia by the Sports Commissioner (SC) in December 2018.

Irene Cheow, President of the Malaysia Ice Skating Federation said, “We are very honored to have been instrumental in developing quality skaters and promoting the sport while elevating the standard of ice skating to be on par with global standards. We had the privilege of maximizing the potential of promising talents and shaping them to be champions while providing them with the opportunity to compete on the global stage.”

Since the inception of MISF, the body has been successfully developing this winter sport, empowering its talents through development programmes, helping them to showcase their talent while producing quality and dedicated talents who are passionate in the sport. MISF has also been aggressively promoting the sport on both the local and international front.

With the support of MISF, the skaters had the opportunity to demonstrate their talents at international events both in 2019 and early 2020. The MISF team that consists of 11 skaters represented Malaysia at the 2019 Manila Sea Games, winning five medals, namely, 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. Two short track speed skaters went on to participate at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics that was held in Switzerland.

During the period of 2019 and early 2020, the ice skaters participated in events such as the 2019 World Figure Skating Championship in Japan; the 2019 International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Championship in United States of America; the 2020 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championship in Italy; and many other international tournaments.

The pandemic did not spare ice skating as it caused it to come to a standstill. With so many uncertainties and not having ice-time, MISF resorted to keeping the skaters in touch with the sport through online initiatives and off-ice training. The team collaborated with Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Sports Academy to conduct webinars and virtual training sessions. In an effort to harness the competitive drive, a virtual competition, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia was held. The MISF First Virtual Figure Skating Challenge, which attracted member participants from both the United Kingdom and Malaysia, was held in December 2020.

Besides developing and nurturing young talents, MISF has been grooming and empowering technical support such as officials, coaches, and officers. To date, five National Judges and three National Technical Specialists have been certified. They are trained to serve the Malaysian Figure Skating fraternity, and neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. To date, Malaysia has seven Judges and five Technical Specialists at the National level, plus one ISU International Judge, who are trained to contribute towards the development of the sport.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, MISF conducted various training sessions in 2020. MISF Exco members have been actively participating in sports management courses conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) / Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to further enhance their knowledge and ability in managing the sport association. This is aimed at further contributing towards the development of the winter sport in Malaysia.

Today, MISF has officially relinquished its position as the governing body of the sport, with immediate effect. This comes following the decision of the judicial review which instructed the SC to reinstate The Ice Skating Association of Malaysia (ISAM) as the national body and a member of OCM. MISF was confirmed as the governing body after ISAM was deregistered by the SC in 2018 due to failure to present their financial reports from the year 2015 - 2017.

“We hope that ISAM as the new governing body, will continue to position ice skating in the international arena while accommodating and supporting all the skaters, as well as the technical specialists and judges who have been working extremely hard thus far.

We wish ISAM all the best in their endeavour to further grow the sport. We hope they will continue to propel Malaysia in the global ice skating arena, provide access to world-class training that will help groom the talents to become internationally competitive and create opportunities for the skaters to compete with world-class talents,” concluded Irene Cheow.

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