Dropping of Sukma events unavoidable - National Sports Council

 

Certain events at the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma), to be held from Sept 16-24, have to be dropped as they do not meet the requirement of having a minimum of six states competing.

National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said this could be avoided if the states who had registered their athletes early did not pull them out at the last minute before the closing date.

However, he said the Sukma Supreme Committee, chaired by Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu, had instructed the NSC to cooperate with all national sports associations to organise more national meets to ensure all athletes, including those unable to take part in Sukma, have the opportunity to participate in a competitive environment.

“The minister views this matter seriously and he has also instructed me to hold talks with all state sports council directors to find the best solution that will not jeopardise the development of young national sports talent,” he said in a statement today.

He said this in response to several statements which gave an impression that there were efforts to curb participation through the introduction of various competition rules for the 20th edition of the Games.

The media recently reported that several events for athletics and diving had been dropped from Sukma due to poor response from the states.

Shapawi, however, clarified that the Sukma Supreme Committee, which formulates all the rules of the Malaysia Games, is made up of all states and had set the rule requiring each sport and event to be participated by a minimum of eight states.

“This requirement has been in place since the first edition of the Games in 1986 to ensure every state implements widescale talent development programmes so that more young and talented athletes can be identified,” he said.

- Bernama