By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, March 19: E-sports, boxing, muay thai, and pétanque will be included in the Malaysian Games (Sukma) 2024 hosted by Sarawak.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said during Sukma supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on March 16, apart from Sarawak being announced as the host for the next Sukma, the meeting also decided to give leeway for the region to add more sports events.
“Supposedly, the host state in previous Sukma games would not be given the opportunity to add more (events), but the recent meeting has discussed some events like e-sports which are now popular among the youths.
“We also deliberated on boxing and muay thai, which are popular in Malaysia and competed in the Olympics but were not included in Sukma.
“Following this, the meeting has agreed to Sarawak’s proposal to add four additional games apart from the 28 main games decided by the Sukma supreme council for Sukma 2024, namely boxing, muay thai, pétanque and e-sports,” he told reporters during the 38th Sarawak Premier Cup ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre here today.
The 28 core games are aquatic (diving and swimming), weightlifting, badminton, cycling (track and road), gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic), golf, fencing, archery, shooting, sailing, hockey, judo, ping pong, taekwondo, karate, lawn bowl, pencak silat (martial art), squash, tenpin bowling, wushu, football, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball, and tennis.
He further said the Sarawak government would meet with Sarawak Secretary Datuk Amar Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki to discuss Sukma 2024 in the next one or two weeks.
“The meeting will seek to decide (a matter) because I hope the Sukma venue will not be held only in Kuching. We want to spread out (the venue), and we want many Sarawakians (from outside Kuching) to benefit from the economic spin-off and enable them to support the Sarawak contingent in person.
“I also expect visitors to Sarawak, comprising the athletes and crew, would exceed 10,000 visitors. The economic spin-off to the downstream industry, such as hoteliers, food operators and transportation companies, would be tremendous,” he added.
He predicted that the venues for Sukma, if approved, would involve the sports facilities in Samarahan, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu and Miri.
Also present during the press conference were Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) chief executive officer (CEO) Awang Putrayusrie Awang Redzuan and SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew Chin Joon. — DayakDaily
