By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 22: Malaysia has turned down the offer from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to host the 2026 edition of the sporting event.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) today, the decision was made during a Cabinet meeting after thorough consideration of all the implications and aspects of hosting the Games.
The statement noted that a delegation from the CGF met the Minister of Youth and Sports (Hannah Yeoh) and held a briefing on the offer to be the host, which was also attended by the Second Minister of Finance (Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan) on Feb 5, 2024.
“The results of the meeting were presented in the Cabinet meeting and, among other things, stated that the CGF’s offer amounting to 100 million pounds (RM603 million) is not projected to be able to cover the entire cost of organising a large-scale sports event. In addition, the economic impact cannot be identified in this short period of time.
“The Madani government thanked the CGF for offering to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games. However, at this point, the government wants to focus on the development of sports as well as the welfare and wellbeing of the people,” it said.
Initially, the 2026 Commonwealth Games was supposed to be hosted by the Australian state of Victoria, but the latter withdrew in July last year due to a significant increase in hosting costs. — DayakDaily
