By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, March 22: Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah says he wants Sarawak to be the Malaysia Games (Sukma) champion when the region hosts the national games in 2024
He revealed that Sarawak won the Sukma title 30 years ago in 1994.
“It has been losing, but this time, there are no two ways about it. Not even second best,” he reiterated.
“I told my deputy, and I told Sarawak Sports Council (SSC), I want Sarawak to be a runaway winner this time as the game host for 2024,” he said during a press conference before the launch of D’Drift 2023 at DayakDaily’s office here today.
Abdul Karim expressed his confidence that Sarawak athletes could achieve this based on the sports events being contested, the facilities and how the staging of the various sports would be shared at different venues in other divisions.
“The only way they could ‘kill’ us now is that we don’t participate in the sporting event,” he opined.
Abdul Karim also revealed new rules in Sukma could help Sarawak to have a better chance.
“For a sports to be an event in Sukma, six states must participate. If less than six states participate in that sport, the event would not be included in the game,” he said.
Abdul Karim said that the chance for Sarawak to be the Sukma champion in 2024 would be more remarkable because, during a Sarawak sports lab’s meeting, it was agreed that four optional sports that Sarawak is good at—boxing, Muay Thai, petanque and e-sports—would be included.
“The Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh, after listening to my line of arguments, has agreed that the four sports would be included in the 28 sports events in the Sukma 2024 games,” Abdul Karim shared.
“But this would change in the 2026 Sukma as there might a new sport ruling to drop any optional sports, and it could be fixed to just 30 to 32 sports events,” he said.
Sarawak aims to be a sports powerhouse in the region, and Sukma is a biennial Malaysian sports event, looking for athletes to represent the country.
Also present at the press conference were Telang Usan assemblyman Denis Ngau who is also Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chairman, STB chief executive officer Datu Sharzede Salleh Askor and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) Head of Enforcement and Protection Madhan Kifli. — DayakDaily
