JOHOR BAHARU, July 10- Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today urged sports officials to be more responsible towards ensuring the safety and security of athletes.
He said the safety of athletes, especially junior athletes, must be given importance by coaches, managers and chef-de-mission to avoid any untoward incidents.
“We cannot deny the fact that the safety and security of athletes is the responsibility of the police but we have during discussions agreed that police will be responsible for security outside the games village while coaches, officials and chef-de-mission take charge of athletes in the games village.
“Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has already highlighted the incident. Therefore, I need not comment further on the incident,” he said when asked about the incident whereby a handball official was reported to have been raped by three handball players from the Federal Territories team at the SUKMA Games Village situated at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, on Wednesday.
Khalid was speaking to reporters after meeting the Johor Media Club members together with his deputy Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin, Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff and other senior police officers.
He added that Kelab Media Johor was the first media club to organise a meeting with top cops in the country, aimed at strengthening the relationship between journalists and the police.
-BERNAMA
