SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian Association of Dodgeball (MAD) have high hopes to see the sport contested at the country’s biggest sporting event, the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2024.
Its president, Datuk N. Radhakrishnan said the move to see the sport make its debut at the Games, which will take place in Sarawak, however, is still being discussed with the host state.
“Seeing the response from the people, we definitely want this sport to be included in Sukma if possible, but it depends on the state that organises it.
“We are negotiating with them so that dodgeball will be there (Sarawak). However, if it is not listed as a competitive sport, we hope it will be listed as an exhibition sport,” he said when met at the Asia Pacific Invitational Dodgeball Championship (API) at the Shah Alam Sports Complex (Panasonic Stadium), here today.
Earlier, the tournament in which 140 clubs from 16 countries are participating was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Adam Adli Abdul Halim.
According to Radhakrishnan, the introduction of dodgeball in Sukma at the same time will be the trigger to see it also introduced at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand as well as the 2027 SEA Games which Malaysia will host.
“If we want to see this sport in the SEA Games, many countries need to join in. Currently, dodgeball is played in only seven of the 10 Southeast Asian countries, but it is a good benchmark for it to be contested at the SEA Games,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adam Adli described the API Championship that takes place today until Sunday as able to raise the image of the sport in the future.
“For me, a tournament like this is good enough to increase participation and at the same time, the public will get more exposure to this sport,” he said. – BERNAMA
