KUCHING, Nov 18: More than 60 dancers from Sarawak, Sabah and the Philippines are expected to participate and compete in the inaugural Sarawak Online DanceSport Championships 2021 organised by Sarawak DanceSport Association (SDA) to be held on Dec 5.
Some of the categories in the competition include DanceSport Standard, Latin and Breaking disciplines and also Classical Ballet and Contemporary events.
SDA president Chester Lim in a press statement today said the number of participants for the online championships is encouraging, given the long layoff and restrictions in place for the prevention of Covid-19.
“Many dancers have just resume their activities and training about six weeks ago,” he said.
He added that the online championships is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Sarawak, Sarawak Sports Council (SSC) and Sarawak Youth and Sports Department.
It was launched by Youth and Sports Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah through the unveiling of event posters and promotional video, witnessed by Youth and Sports Ministry’s permanent secretary Nancy Jolhi, during a courtesy call by SDA officials, among others consisted of Lim, SDA vice president Dr Victor Bong, treasurer Poon Tzia Lok, assistant secretary Randell Lim and SDA breaking division leader Ho John Cris Panganiban to Abdul Karim’s office recently.
Lim said Abdul Karim commended SDA for initiating the online championships to reboot DanceSport activities in Sarawak in the new norm as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that online events could be a regular thing in the future.
He added that Abdul Karim, who is also Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister also praised SDA for pitching in to promote Sarawak as a tourist destination, by highlighting the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) ‘Sarawak- More to Discover’ logo in the Sarawak Online DanceSport Championships 2021 posters.
During the unveiling of the online championships, Lim, who is also Malaysia’s Dancesport Federation secretary general noted that Abdul Karim took the opportunity to congratulate the two Sarawak breakers, Mike Ting and Law Ing Chung for emerging in the top eight in the recently concluded Malaysia national championships.
Lim gathered that Abdul Karim is aware the Breaking discipline is included in the competition programme for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He said Abdul Karim expects Sarawak’s breakers to give it a good fight if they are able to represent the State at the international stage.
Meanwhile, Lim expressed his appreciation to Crisaldo M Rendon of Cebu, Philippines and the Sabah DanceSport Association headed by John Chong as President and his committee members for lending support to develop the online platform.
Lim also thanked the Youth and Sports Ministry, Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, SSC, Sarawak Youth and Sports Department, STB, participating dancers and championship adjudicators or judges for their support. — DayakDaily
