The Ice Skating Association of Malaysia (ISAM) have been reinstated as a valid national body and a member of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
The Kuala Lumpur High Court had, on May 20, declared that the Sports Commissioner's Office's (SCO) decision to deregister ISAM for failing to submit annual reports from 2013 to 2018 was null and void.
With their reinstatement, the selection of athletes for multi-sport events, such as the Sea Games, will come under their purview.
ISAM president Fadzli Johan is pleased with the decision.
"We will now hold the annual general meeting (AGM)-cum-elections to elect new office-bearers.
"It will depend on the government's decision on the Movement Control Order (MCO). If it is extended beyond June 28, we will opt for a virtual AGM.
"We need to get back to work as soon as possible because a lot of our development plans and progress were halted due to the issue," he said yesterday.
Fadzli, who will be defending his post, said the immediate plan is to prepare athletes for the Beijing Winter Olympic qualifiers in October.
ISAM will also prepare a five-year blueprint focusing on the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The ISAM are also looking forward to collaborating with the IOI Icescape in IOI City Mall, Putrajaya, to establish Special Olympic and Paralympic teams for disabled athletes and build a private smart partnership to manage the Malaysia National Ice Skating Stadium in Damansara.
ISAM were expelled as an affiliate of the OCM following the SCO's decision to deregister ISAM in May 2018.
In December 2018, Malaysia Ice Skating Federation (MISF) were formed as the new governing body, thus, forcing ISAM to take the case to the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March 2019.
Fadzli added that the OCM's executive board approved ISAM's reinstatement on Saturday. --Bernama