By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Sept 16: Despite being on a level playing field with many outstanding contenders, Sarawak athletes will push harder to haul more medals for the State in the ongoing 20th Sukma Games.
Deputy Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dato Gerald Rentap Jabu said he was proud to see local athletes being in high-spirits in their respective tournament events.
“The Sarawak spirit is there and strong, in fact. The spirit of ‘agi idup agi ngelaban’ and not admitting defeat is instinctive and exists deep in their hearts,” he said.
Applauding Sarawak’s achievement of winning its first gold yesterday (Sept 15) by Jonah Chang Rigan in the men’s shotput event as well as a few silver and bronze medals, Rentap said the team needs to maintain its momentum.
In terms of medal standings, he was optimistic that Sarawak would win more medals with a few more finals taking place today.
“If we can keep up with that kind of momentum, we will definitely be in the Top 5. So we need to push a bit harder.
“Hopefully with better strategy planning and our strong commitment to win as the Sarawak team, we are able to be more competitive against other states,” he told the press at a local hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.
At the time of writing, Sarawak was in 9th place with one gold, four silvers and eight bronze. Johor was still leading with eight golds, six silvers and three bronze. — DayakDaily
