KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Athletics (MA) faces questions over its decision to nominate Karim Ibrahim as its representative at the Asian Games in Nagoya, despite his lifetime ban from athletics.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) confirmed that MA requested the accreditation for Karim.
Each participating national federation was entitled to one card, it said, adding that due diligence rested with the federation, not the OCM.
But who put Karim’s name forward, and who authorised the decision?
A senior MA official, who spoke to FMT on condition of anonymity, said the nomination did not go before the federation’s executive council or its acting president.
The nomination raises questions because Karim had announced a leave of absence from his duties as president in May, while MA worked to align its constitution with World Athletics’ rules.
“I will take a leave of absence from my duties, during which I will not be involved in the day-to-day management and decision-making in Malaysia Athletics,” he said.
Karim also said he had asked deputy president Wan Hisham Wan Salleh and the council to assume full responsibility for MA’s administration and executive functions.
Wan Hisham took on an acting role, handling day-to-day management during Karim’s absence.
Yet MA chose Karim for its sole accreditation at the Games. He performed no official duties there, but his nomination raises questions about why the federation selected him and who approved the move.
Why didn’t MA consult its executive council? Who had the authority to submit his name? And who approved any costs arising from his attendance?
FMT could not establish who paid for Karim’s travel, accommodation or other expenses. MA has not provided an explanation, and Karim did not respond to FMT’s request for comment.
Karim has been ineligible to serve athletics since World Athletics imposed a lifetime ban in 2018. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the ruling.
The sanction followed findings involving the handling of athletes’ allowances and advice to athletes to evade doping tests ahead of the 2011 SEA Games.
Despite the ban, Karim returned to the MA presidency after the federation amended its constitution to impose a five-year limit on disqualification for those sanctioned by World Athletics, Asian Athletics and MA. That provision allowed him to contest the presidency in 2025.
MA reversed course at its annual general meeting in June, adopting constitutional changes to align its eligibility rules with those of World Athletics.
The revised rules make officials banned by the international body ineligible to hold office.
The sports commissioner’s formal decision on Karim’s position remains pending. Until that process concludes, his technical status within MA remains a separate issue from his eligibility under World Athletics’ rules.
The accreditation raises a different question: why did MA choose a man barred from serving athletics to represent the federation at the Games?
The OCM has placed responsibility for the nomination on MA, which has yet to explain who submitted Karim’s name, who authorised the decision or how his trip was funded.