KUALA LUMPUR – The parents of national para swimmer Imaan Aiman Redzuan are planning to sue Walter Lee, the father of national para swimmer Zy Lee Kher, for tarnishing the image of their son.
Recently, the decision to omit Zy from the Paris Paralympics has sparked a feud between Zy’s father, Walter Lee, an executive member of the Malaysian Para Swimming Association (Prepma), and PCM president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman Zaharudin, with each blaming the other for their actions.
Walter criticised PCM and Prepma, claiming that their objectives are not aligned with their strategies, leading to his son being forced to compete for a bipartite slot despite having a higher world ranking than Imaan.
In contrast, Megat and Prepma stated that the selection process for Paris was conducted transparently and without any vested interests. The governing body’s selection criteria focused on record times, potential to win medals, the number of events the national contingent would participate in, and extraordinary achievements.
Speaking to Scoop, Imaan’s mother, Intan Diana Mohd Baki, said that her son has been mentally disturbed by the media reports involving his name.
Intan also said that Imaan has been a victim of cyberbullying on social media by supporters of Zy.
“As a mother, I hate the way Walter has been tarnishing my son’s reputation by publicly mentioning my son and making it sound like he didn’t make it to the Paralympics on merit.
“Only I know how much effort my son put in to ensure he made it to the Paralympics, and no one has any right to question how he qualified, as the decision was made by the councils.
“It’s been mentally stressful for Imaan over the past few weeks as he has been reading many reports based on Walter’s comments. He keeps asking me what he did wrong and why he deserves so much hatred when all he wants to do is represent and win medals for the country.
“Imaan has also now become a victim of cyberbullying from those who support Zy Lee Kher. He’s sad that this is happening when he’s a teammate of Zy. They have competed in several tournaments as part of the Malaysian team, and Imaan can’t accept the fact that his friend’s father is trying to ruin his image,” said Intan when contacted.
At the same time, Intan also expressed her disappointment with how Walter has been politicising the issue by pressuring Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh to get involved and take action on the matter.
Intan’s response followed the sports minister’s statement to Scoop that Zy’s case is currently under review by the Sports Dispute Committee, chaired by Datuk Low Beng Choo.
The minister also stated that she has asked both PCM and Prepma to explain their stance on why Zy, who has won more than six international medals, including two bronze medals at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Para Games, was not selected for Paris.
“I’m also disappointed with how Walter is approaching the minister and several political parties to complain about what happened to his son. I wonder why he has to make it political when he could have consulted the councils about this matter.
“Iman has been working hard for this opportunity since he was 14-years-old, and as a parent, I will make sure none of these issues shatter his hope of competing for the country.
“I will ensure that my husband and I lodge a police report and also sue Walter after consulting our legal advisors for all the damage he has caused to our son,” Intan added.
For the record, the International Paralympic Council only allows two swimming participants from each national Paralympic Council.
Malaysia has two slots allocated by World Para Swimming for the para-swimming events in Paris, and Prepma has given these slots to Nur Syaiful Zulkafli and Imaan.
According to both PCM and Prepma, Imaan has a 96.3% probability of winning a medal based on personal-best times, while Syaiful has a 95.5% probability for the men’s SB4 100m breaststroke event.
In contrast, Zy’s probabilities were significantly lower, placing him third in the selection ranking.
PCM is expected to send the final list of athletes competing in Paris by August 2.
This year’s Paralympics are scheduled to take place from August 28 to September 8. – August 2, 2024
