PART II: CG98 - INTRODUCTION
 
Four years ago, after the last Games in Victoria, Canada, we looked forward to being at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in person, as it was held in my mother's native country.

Since Kuala Lumpur was awarded the Games in 1992, at the high of economic growth, Malaysia has suffered several setbacks, but managed to get the Games going and it proved to be the best Games yet.

The problems began over two years ago. The first major problem was "The Haze" - the smog that covered most of Malaysia and Indonesia due to forest fires in Indonesia. We were told that it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. In some places you probably couldn't see more than arms length.

This caused trouble for the Games, not only because of work stopping in the building site for the National Sports Complex, but also the bad reputation Malaysia acquired when the smog returned the following year.

This caused panic in the National Teams who were planning to go there. One team doctor said that a normal work-out in the smog would be like smoking 1000 cigarettes a day. Not good when the biggest sporting event to have taken place in South East Asia was about to take place.

Then there were the economic problems which arose about a year ago. The collapse of the currency (the Malaysian Ringgit), much attributed to George Soros, caused huge problems.

Many major projects were stopped and it caused many companies to close or at least reassess their situation. The major dam project, which involved some British companies, stopped. The new Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was threatened, but was finished.

But most of all, there was doubt about the Games. But the government backed it and made it a priority. It was an opportunity they could not refuse. And so, on 11th September, the Games opened.
 
 

 
THE GAMES BEGIN

The Opening Ceremony was amazing lasting in total over seven hours, including the Pre-show, which was a concert with the biggest Malaysian pop-stars singing. It was a spectacle beyond the imagination of many, and was a great sight. TV coverage was almost blanket with all five stations having some sort of live coverage.

It was well planned and well organised and to me everything seemed to go perfectly. It was definitely made to rival the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics, not only with the content, but also the length (it lasted until 11pm) a total greater than 7 hours.

But at last the Games we had been waiting for had started.
 

My visit to the Games was for another five days - we had planned to see the athletics only. But we watched the coverage on TV. The advantages were that we could see the Games live in the comfort of our living rooms, but the disadvantages were that they took the coverage from Australian TV for the English channel (all the rest were in Malay), so we didn't really have unbiased coverage. Also the Malaysian broadcaster would change sport even when a game of badminton, say, hadn't finished. It was a little annoying. Also we missed the likes of Des Lynam, Steve Rider, Sue Barker and all the crew at BBC Sport. But in a few days I would be there in person at the Games - the ultimate thrill.

One of the highlights for me during my stay there was watching the tenpin bowling on TV. Tenpin bowling is the number one sport in Malaysia and the most popular. In fact, go into any bowling alley and you'll find it full. You'll also find it very cheap ? pence compared to pounds.

But here was the greatest championship in the sport's history. And probably the first time it's got the coverage it deserves. Two of the best countries in the world, Malaysia and Australia, participated and what a battle it was.

We saw the skill and amazing ability of the competitors in an epic contest. The women, Shalin Z and Lai KN of Malaysia took on Cara Honeychurch and Maxine Nable of Australia in the women's doubles and no matter how hard they tried, the Aussies won.

But Ben Heng and Kenny Ang of Malaysia took the gold in the men's doubles, the first of the Games for Malaysia and what a celebration there was. Ironically, though, the women were outscoring the men.

But the best came in the women's singles, when Lai of Malaysia scored a perfect game, only for Honeychurch to do the same feat later. It was amazing to see the perfect game on TV. Having never seen a maximum 147 in snooker before, live, it's an amazing feeling to have seen the equivalent in tenpin.
 

Our first visit to the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur was on Tuesday 15th. We had planned to see the badminton team finals, but the first timetable was wrong and we hadn't had the latest version. We then decided to see the swimming and made our way from Seremban to Bukit Jalil.

After arriving at Seremban Station, we had trouble buying the tickets because the assistants couldn't speak much English. Anyway, we got them and made our way by KTM Commuter train to Bandar Tasik Selantan, the interchange for the complex. It was a painfully slow journey, taking over an hour and mostly speeds slower than 30 or 40 mph.

Finally we got to the station and changed to the Star LRT monorail to Bukit Jalil, which was a quick journey.
Once at the Sports Complex, we were amazed by the number of publicity stalls there were. Of those there was a Malaysia Airlines stall, which to me seemed pointless, but it was the only air-conditioned one!

It was hot and sticky, and there were problems with the ticket queues. We couldn't get tickets for the swimming that day, because it simply cost too much (RM 80 or £14 for an hour and a half of swimming). But we did buy the athletics tickets, which we found out was RM30 (£5 approx) for the WHOLE DAY. They had originally been selling morning tickets at RM 30 and evening ones at RM 50, but due to a sales fiasco, they couldn't sell them all so they allowed morning tickets into the evening session. This made it very cheap and worthwhile.

Without any tickets on that day, we went to see the training track. There were some athletes there, none I recognised myself, though there was an English pole-vaulter who was doing a good job of it.

We also went up to the memorial parks and looked at the CG monuments put up for the Games. It was rather impressive, though there were also few people there, as I don't think many people knew about it. At the top of the hill it was built on, there was a great view of the stadium complex, with the athletics and hockey stadiums in the foreground.

We left that day, now wiser as to how to get there (it actually proved useful), and eagerly anticipating the next day's action.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Malaysia Index | INTRO | PART I - RETURN: Family | PART II - CG98: (i) The Games Begin | (ii) Athletics Action

Holidays Index | HK Part I | HK Part II | Photo Gallery
 

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