KUCHING, March 16: The Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) Supreme Committee has officially agreed for Sarawak to host Sukma 2024.
Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh in a statement today said the matter was decided during a meeting today and based on the agreement of the members to introduce a rotating system for the games’ host to alternate every two years between the National Sports Council (MSN) and the states.
“After Sarawak’s turn to host the Sukma 2024 edition, the 2026 edition will be organised by MSN.
“Kelantan has also agreed to host Sukma 2028, in order to give them a longer preparation period,” she said.
She added the rationality behind the host rotation system is to reduce the Federal government’s burden to provide financial assistance to the states which covers the provision of construction and upgrading of sports infrastructure, the cost of organising and also financing athletes’ preparation programmes at the state level.
Meanwhile, Yeoh said the committee also approved 28 types of sports that are compulsory for every state to compete in, starting from Sukma 2024.
She said the sports are aquatics (swimming and diving), weightlifting, badminton, cycling (track and highway), gymnastics (artistic and gymnastics), golf, fencing, archery, shooting, athletics, sailing, hockey, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, karate, field bowling, pencak silat, sepak takraw, squash, tenpin bowling, wushu, soccer, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis.
She also added that Sarawak, as the host for Sukma 2024, is also including some additional sports, namely boxing, muay thai, petanque and electronic sports (e-sports) which is subjected to a minimum participation of six states as contained in the General Sports Regulations of Malaysia. — DayakDaily
