KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said the ministry's investigation into an incident where a volleyball coach was caught on video slapping two of his female charges went beyond the act of slapping.
She said the probe, instead, is to delve further into longstanding practices which may have made such acts the norm.
"We have started the investigation. The investigation is not to look at whether the slap happened, we all saw it.
"This investigation goes deeper than that. It is about looking into the practices which may have been happening in the volleyball team," she told reporters during a visit to the National Sports Institute in Bukit Jalil, here today.
Yeoh said the fate of the coach will be decided once the investigation concludes.
"Once the investigation has been completed, I will share the findings with everyone," she said.
A clip of the incident, which went viral, showed the volleyball coach slapping two of his players during the recent 2022 Malaysia Youth U-14 Volleyball Championship in Johor, which took place from Dec 14 to Dec 16.
The coach's action against his teen players triggered an uproar on social media, with netizens lambasting the move.
However, the parents of the teens said they would not be pressing charges against the coach, and said the coach has since apologised.
Yesterday, the coach, Saiful Hadee Amar, 44, publicly apologised for his actions.
He said he regretted his action and was prepared to face the consequences.