KUCHING: The 850 athletes representing Sarawak in the upcoming 18th Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) Games in Perak from September 12 to 22 are targeted to bring back 77 gold medals.
Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports, Datuk Snowdan Lawan revealed this at a press conference after chairing the meeting on the Assistant Chef De Mission (ACDM) Sukma Games 2018 at Grand Dormani Rajah Court Hotel here yesterday.
The athletes will be completing in 29 games, namely, athletics, archery, swimming and diving, badminton, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, football, futsal, golf, gymnastic, handball, hockey, judo, karate, lawn bowls, muay thai, netball, petangue, rugby, sailing, shooting, sepak takraw, silat, squash, taekwondo, tenpin bowling, weightlifting and wushu.
Snowdan, who is also Chef De Mission (CDM) for the Sukma Sarawak Contingent, said that a high target was set so that the athletes were motivated to win more medals.
“Incentives will also be given to those who manage to score a medal. Gold medal winners will be given RM5,000. An additional RM7,000 will be given if an athlete is able to score another gold medal. Meanwhile, silver and bronze medal winners will be given RM750 and RM500 respectively.
“I’m confident that the athletes will do a great job because they are not only well prepared, but they also underwent training sessions in Canada and Vietnam under the best coaches. Since our loss in the 2016 games, we have to motivate and provide more support for our athletes so that they can perform their absolute best,” Snowdan said, adding that the states to beat were Terengganu and Selangor.
At yesterday’s meeting, 14 ACDMs were selected to take charge of the games assigned to them.
The ACDMs elected were Dato’ Ahmad Ibrahim who is in charge of Cycling and Judo, Dr. Haji Abdul Rahman Haji Junaidi (Petanque and Handball), Dr. Ong Kong Swee (Swimming and Diving), Gerald Rentap Jabu (Weightlifting, Boxing, and Rugby), Azizul Adenan (Lawn Bowls and Taekwondo), Datin Mary Saadiah (Hockey, Gymnastics, and Rhythmic Gymnastics), Christopher Gira Sambang (Golf, Sailing), Miro Simuh Ugon (Sepak Takraw and Netball), Kennedy Chuckpai Ugon (Muay Thai and Athletics), Sunny Sii (Tenpin Bowling and Shooting), Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman (Silat, Futsal, and Football), Allan Siden Gramong (Archery and Karate), Allen Wong (Wushu, Basketball, and Badminton) and Robert Lau (Squash and Cricket).
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary to Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Hii Chang Kee and Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Sports Corporation, Dr. Ong Kong Swee were appointed as Deputy DCMs.
