Kota Kinabalu: Sabah are set to send a large contingent for the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma) to be held in Sarawak next year.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ellron Angin, who welcomed the decision by Sarawak to organise the biennial games, said the preparation for the State contingent had already started immediately after the last Sukma ended in September last year.
“We have so far identified and named a total of 36 athletes in our phase one selection list.
“Phase two list will only be completed after the Sabah Games (Saga) to be held from December 16-22 this year.
“The Games would allow us to identify and evaluate the performance of all the athletes. Those who excelled at the Games as well as those who do well in the any national competitions will be added to the list,” he said.
Ellron, who said the selection is based on a set of guidelines, also revealed that 200 of the 467 athletes who competed in last year’s meet are still eligible for the Sarawak Games including 56 medal winners.
“The training sessions of the Sukma athletes will be fully monitored by Sabah Sports Council and the Ministry will closely follow the development and performance of each athlete from time to time.”
According to him, Sabah will participate in 32 sports including 28 core sports namely aquatic (swimming and diving), weightlifting, badminton, cycling, gymnastics (artistic and gymnastics), golf, fencing, archery, shooting, athletics, sailing, hockey, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, karate, lawn bowl, pencak silat, sepak takraw, squash, tenpin bowling, wushu, football, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis, in addition to muay thai, petanque, E-sports and boxing.
Meanwhile, the minister said all coaches played an important role to implement the ministry’s programme during a meeting with the Sabah Sports Council coaches on Monday.
“Coaches are very important assets to the ministry in order for us to carry out the programme to produce world class athletes.”
He also urged all the coaches to constantly improve their knowledge and the ministry through the Sabah Sports Council will do their part by inviting facilitators from the National Sports Council as well as experts from abroad to give talks.
A signing session of Safe Sport Code by all the coaches was held during the meeting as well as a mock cheque presentation under the State’s Sukma and Para Sukma athletes special Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Contribution Programme.
Also present at the meeting were Assistant Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Fairuz Renddan, the Ministry’s permanent secretary Datuk Mansur Asun, Sabah Sports Council director Asneh Mohd Noor and other officials.
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