By NOOR SYAHHIRA HADY & LILIANA SHERYN
KUCHING: The establishment of Akademi Takraw Satok (ATAS) will further promote the traditional sport (Sepak Takraw) to the younger generation.
According to the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Satok deputy division chief Hilmi Othman, the academy was established by the Takraw Satok Club and PBB Satok Branch for the younger generation under the age of 16 to be involved and take interest of this traditional sports.
“As urban areas are being further developed, traditional sports such as this are slowly being forgotten. The younger generation are simply not interested in sports such as this.
“Therefore, I see that the establishment of ATAS is timely since we already have the infrastructure for this sport here.
“With that, more communities in the urban areas will be involved in this sport and with the initiative by ATAS, Sepak Takraw will surely be popular among the community here,” he said.
He said this when officiating the Under 16 Sepak Takraw competition on behalf of the Satok Assemblyman Datuk Ibrahim Baki at Kompleks Sukan Dewan community sports club (KSK) Satok here on Saturday (Mar 4).
Adding on, Hilmi pointed out that to empower the sports among the younger generation, the academy organised three sessions per week filled with programmes and basic exercises that are conducted by former Sarawak sepak takraw representatives from the Satok area.
Meanwhile, touching on the facilities here, he stated that for Satok constituency, various infrastructures have been set up under KSK Satok during the tenure of its previous assemblyman, Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“We know for a fact that Satok is an area located in the middle of Kuching with a rapid development environment.
“Therefore, our Premier had put his effort to provide suitable infrastructure in order to avoid traditional sports such as this from being forgotten as the city’s progress,” he said.
Earlier, the competition here featured matches among Under 16 Sepak Takraw teams from Kuching, Betong, and Saratok.
This two-day competition held from Mar 4 to Mar 5 is participated by nine teams in the boys category and four teams in the girls category with each having five players in them.
“I believe that the organisation of competition such as this by ATAS will further promote the sport among the younger generation,” added Hilmi.
