KUCHING: A total of 564 athletes from Sarawak will compete in the 20th Malaysia Games (SUKMA) in Kuala Lumpur, from Sept 16 to 24.
Minister of Youth, Sports & Entrepreneur Development Sarawak (MYSED) Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the athletes would be accompanied by 41 team managers and 107 sports officials.
He said Sarawak will be competing in 31 different sporting events in this year’s SUKMA which will have a total of 426 matches to be held in five different zones or localities.
He said competitions in Zone 1 are to be held in Kuala Lumpur; Zone 2 in Bangi; Zone 3 in Bukit Jalil; Zone 4 in Shah Alam and Zone 5 where the sailing event is to be competed is in Langkawi.
Speaking at the Official Handing over of State Flag to Sarawak SUKMA XX MSN 2022 Contingent here today, Karim said the event was held to boost the morale of our young athletes who are spearheading Sarawak’s challenge in this year’s SUKMA after a four-year hiatus.
Sarawak’s contingent is to be led by Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development namely Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu who was also appointed as Chef-de-Mission (CDM).
Gerald would be supported by the Deputy Chef-de-Mission, Nancy Jolhi, who is Permanent Secretary to MYSED and 21 Assistant Chef-de-Mission (ACDM).
Apart from having a 15-member secretariat team, he said, Sarawak’s contingent will also consist of 56 additional sports officials from various local sports associations.
Karim also said there are a total of 426 gold medals: 426 silver and 508 bronze medals up for grabs in this year’s Sukma.
“Our athletes together with their coaches had trained hard in their preparation to stage a good fight in this coming SUKMA. Our contingent’s battle cry for SUKMA is “Our Stars; Our Pride”,” he said.
“We know our athletes are now 100 per cent ready to carry on Sarawak’s challenge and try to bring back home the SUKMA overall champion title which had been “elusive” the past few years,” he added.
