KUCHING: A total of 680 athletes from 13 countries are taking part in the two-day 31st Malaysian International Open Masters Athletics Championships (MIOMAC) 2017 at Stadium Sarawak, Petra Jaya, here, starting yesterday.
Apart from host Malaysia, among participating countries are Nepal, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Brunei, and South Africa.
Gracing the event was the Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg who said MIOMAC is part of the many more international events that will be held here in Kuching.
“Since February this year there has been a number of international sporting events being held in Sarawak. The events included badminton, squash, Taekwando and now athletics.
“Many more international events would be held here soon. Sarawak is also bidding to host the 2019 Asian Masters Athletics Championship and the World Para Swimming Games scheduled for 2019.
“We hope Sarawak will be succeed in the bidding and we also hope that the organisers will give Sarawak the opportunity to become host one more time,” said Johari.
Apart from that, he also called upon the Malaysian Masters Athletics Association (MMAA) to consider having Kuching to become host for their future events.
“We are happy to offer you to use the sporting facilities that available here and most importantly there will be strong support given by the Sarawak state government.
“This offer is also open to others as well because we will continue to encourage more international sporting events to be organised in Sarawak for the benefits of the local community especially our young people,” said Johari.
Also speaking at the event was the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“Sports tourism is indeed beneficial to all of us because it promotes people from all over the world to go for holiday while participating in healthy activities such as sports,” he said.
“For this event, we are equally excited with the influx of participants who came together with their accompanying families and friends. This is because the two-day event is considered to be more of a short term holiday for the veteran athletes who are expected to visit the various interesting places of interest in Kuching City.
“In relations to this, we strongly encourage the local community to be ready in extending a warm welcome to the incoming tourists because many of them are first timers to this part of the world.
“As such, the 31st Malaysian International Open Masters Athletics Championship had served as a good opportunity for the visiting participants to experience the much talked about Sarawak hospitality,” said Karim.
