KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has voiced her disappointment over the actions of a coach who, in a video clip, is seen slapping his students during a volleyball tournament.
"This is wrong," she tweeted in response to a report by a local news portal.
In the clip, which has been shared and making its rounds on social media, the coach of the Melaka under-14 girls' volleyball team was seen slapping two of his players during the recent 2022 Malaysia Youth U-14 Volleyball Championship in Johor.
Yeoh said she has spoken to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and they were both gathering more information regarding the incident reported by FMT.
Meanwhile, former youth and sports minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said there was no need to resort to such abusive behaviour.
He said if such incidents were not looked into, then they would reoccur.
"It will leave a negative impact on the children.
"Education, awareness, and effective supervision are important to ensure there is mutual respect between athletes and their coaches or administrators," he said in a tweet.
Some of Yeoh's followers on Twitter also hit out at the coach, with quite a few calling for him to be arrested and sacked.
Popular actor and comedian Harith Iskandar, for instance, said if his daughter's coach ever laid a hand on her, 'he would soon learn what 'tampar' really means'.