Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Netball Association (Sabana) ended its 20-year wait to compete in the XX Malaysian Games (Sukma).
Its President, Chendramata Sinteh said Sabana has been preparing since 2019 to participate in Sukma XX (2022), however it was postponed due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Training began again at the beginning of this year with the final selection in June 2022, followed by centralised training before the 12 players and three officials depart for the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur on September 17.
“Sabana has the cooperation from Sabah Sports Board, the Sabah Youth and Sports Ministry and the Sabah State Education Department to ensure preparations go smoothly.
“We hope to be able to achieve the target in line with the Sabah team’s Go For Gold slogan as well as place netball on the Malaysian sports scene,” she said after a courtesy visit to the Head of State’s wife, Toh Puan Norlidah R.M Jasni at Istana Seri Kinabalu, on Tuesday.
The last time the Sabah team performed at the 2002 Sukma Sabah Games, their achievement was being in the eight best teams.
Earlier, Toh Puan Norlidah welcomed a visit from the Sabah State Education Department Women’s Association (Pawanis) led by its Chairman, Tah Nia Jaman and delegation.
According to Tah Nia, the visit was to deliver an invitation to Toh Puan Norlidah to inaugurate the Pawanis Charity Dinner, on September 26.
“This biannual dinner party aims to raise funds for the welfare of members, educators and students who have been affected by calamity.
“Therefore, Pawanis took the initiative to collect funds through programmes such as charity meals so that they can benefit from the care of the Sabah State Education Department,” she explained.
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