By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 20: Construction will soon begin on Sarawak’s first High Performance Centre (HPC) which provides the same training facilities as the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.
Sarawak Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the HPC, which was listed under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), has been approved by the State government and is currently in the design stage.
He said it is important for the State to have its own sports training facilities to develop athletes and not rely on Kuala Lumpur.
“It’s not that I want to mock (national sports authorities) but sometimes there are just too many politics in the national sports development.
“Our athletes who train in Bukit Jalil sometimes report back, saying that they were being ignored just because they are not very fluent in Bahasa Malaysia and so on. Things like that should not be (happening). We should be above board if we want our athletes to develop well.
“If I was one of the caretakers at the National Sports Institute (ISN), I cannot be like (for example) ‘since I am from Terengganu, I have to take care of Terengganu athletes’ or ‘if I am from Pahang, I have to take care of Pahang athletes only’. No, this should not be how we look after our athletes,” he told reporters after the opening ceremony of the Premier of Sarawak Borneo Cup International Taekwondo (WTF) Championship 2022 held at Stadium Perpaduan here today.
Abdul Karim also mentioned that the ongoing construction of Sarawak Sports Village in the vicinity of the Sarawak Sports Complex in Petra Jaya here will reach completion soon.
The village, he said, will serves as an accommodation for athletes training for their competitions.
He also shared that the Sarawak government through his ministry has sent a delegation to study the New Zealand model in 2018 including a benchmarking visit to the country’s centre of high performance and their sports development practices.
He also added that a gallery will be set up at the Sarawak Sports Village to honor the State’s sports history and icons. — DayakDaily
