PETALING JAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican has stepped in to offer assistance to nine-year-old figure skater C Sree Abiraame in her bid to compete at the highest stage, the Winter Olympics.
FMT had reported how Sree’s father, B Chendren Balakrishnan, has had to sell a house, a car and dip into his Employees’ Provident Fund savings to help fund his daughter’s training in Riga, Latvia, with her mother, Shyamala Ramachandran.
Reezal lauded Sree for her tenacity in pursuing her dreams and the achievements she has garnered along the way, including winning four golds and a silver at the 5th international championship skate in Abu Dhabi early this year.
“I will instruct the National Sports Council (MSN) and National Sports Institute of Malaysia (ISN) to immediately discuss and explore types of support and assistance we can provide her and the ice skating and figure skating sports as a whole.
“And also, the involvement of national/state association and local academies/training centres, who have been the backbone of the development of the sport,” he said in a Facebook post recently.
Sree is currently training at the International Figure Skating Academy in Riga, staying back with her mother despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chendren, an engineer with his own consultancy firm, has had to dig deep into his pockets to keep his daughter on the rink, with his own business suffering.
He had told FMT that he would try as long as he can to continue funding Sree’s training but lamented that he may run out of funds by next year.
“I really hope the sports ministry or someone can help. They don’t have to sponsor her in full. I can still come up with some money every year, but it is expensive,” he had said.
The family launched a crowdfunding initiative yesterday to keep her in training in the form of the Sree Abiraame Foundation. It was launched on her birthday during a Zoom session.
All sponsorships or donations can be channelled to the foundation’s CIMB bank account at 80-1046165-0.