By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, April 6: Women’s futsal and women’s 10-metre platform diving are two events that are being dropped from the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma).
Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED) Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the two events had to be dropped due to a lack of participation from the states.
For Sukma, an event must be participated in by a minimum of six states. If the participation of any event is less than six states, the event will be dropped.
“I was informed that one of the dropped events is the women’s 10-metre platform diving which is sort of upsetting because it is one of the events that could contribute a gold medal for Sarawak.
“However, since only four states submitted their athletes’ list, if I’m not mistaken, we have to drop the event,” he told reporters after officiating the ‘Juh Berambeh Sungkey@Kuching 2024’ programme organised at Padang Merdeka here today.
Apart from women’s futsal and women’s 10-metre platform diving, Abdul Karim mentioned that several other events may face exclusion from Sukma for the same reason.
When asked by a reporter whether Sarawak’s hosting of Sukma this year would motivate other states’ participation so that the dropping of events would not continue, Abdul Karim said the State is also tied to the National Sukma Committee.
There are 37 sports being contested in this year’s Sukma, with a total of over 480 events.
Abdul Karim further said the number of other events may also decrease if the number of participations is less than six states.
“However, we are still in the process of advising other states to send their athletes.
“We hope that they would not look at a certain event from the perspective of whether they could win or not, but rather towards the spirit of sportsmanship,” he added. — DayakDaily
