MFF vice-president Hairi Abdullah said the federation has yet to make a final decision on whether Uzair Zafran should compete in the World Junior & Cadet Fencing Championships 2025 in Wuxi next month.

Hairi said the MFF had sent the 16-year-old a letter on Feb 24 urging him to pay up a  €500 fine imposed by the International Fencing Federation for withdrawing from the World Junior Men’s Foil event in Heraklion, Greece, in January.

“We received an appeal letter from Uzair Zafran’s father, Badroel Rizwan Bahar, on Feb 27.

“We were informed that Uzair Zafran had paid the fine yesterday (March 1). So, we will be meeting this week for a final decision on the matter,” Hairi told FMT.

Badroel Rizwan earlier claimed that MFF had “disproportionately punished” and barred his son from representing Malaysia in the world championships without notice.

He claimed the reasons given by MFF was that Uzair Zafran had “failed to appear without any acceptable reason” for the event in Greece on Jan 18 and 19 and had “repeatedly” done so for other events in the past.

Badroel Rizwan explained that Uzair Zafran’s withdrawal from the event in Greece was due to his son sitting for an examination, and the federation was notified about this several days before the tournament.

He also claimed the barring of Uzair Zafran from taking part in the world championships in China was influenced by an ongoing dispute on transparency between the MFF and FTAFA.