KUCHING: The 10th Malaysia Independent Chinese Secondary Schools (MICSS) Ball Games Championship 2023 will be held for the very first time in Kuching, Sarawak from August 26 to 31, with more than 1,600 people expected to participate.
Chairman of The Sarawak United Association of Chinese School Boards of Management and the event committee chairman Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau Lee Ming pointed out that this triennial event is to provide a platform for the students to stay active and healthy, improve their skills in sports and improve the networking among the students.
“In order to develop the students in various aspects, we use sports competitions to try our best to cultivate students’ physical fitness and their talents in sports during their time in secondary school so that students can have a healthy body and positive attitude towards life.
“This tournament will hold four different ball games, including basketball, badminton, table tennis and volleyball,” Lau said in the press conference held at Chung Hua Middle School No.1 here yesterday.
Prior to this, Chinese secondary schools of each region must complete the preliminary rounds in their respective regions before June 15 to decide the participating teams.
According to the rules, there are eight regions in the country, namely, Region A is composed of four Chinese secondary schools in Kelantan and Kedah, Region B is composed of five Chinese secondary schools in Penang, and Region C is composed of nine Chinese secondary schools in Perak.
Meanwhile, Region D is composed of eight Chinese secondary schools in Selangor with Region E having four Chinese secondary schools in Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
Region F will see nine Chinese secondary schools in Johor competing for the tickets in the tournament, and Region G is composed of nine Chinese secondary schools in Sabah.
Last but not least, Region H is composed of 14 independent Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak and among the eight regions, one team each from Regions A, B, and E, two teams from Regions C, G, and H, and three teams from Regions D and F, a total of 15 teams will be selected to advance to the finals.
Lau also announced that the 10th Malaysia Independent Chinese Secondary Schools Ball Games Championship 2023 for Sarawak (Region H), will be held from April 22 to 26 in Sibu Catholic High School where all the Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak will compete for the chance to qualify in the 10th Malaysia Independent Chinese Secondary Schools Ball Games Championship 2023.
Lau added that it has been more than five years since the tournament was last held in 2017, as the 2020 version of it had to be postponed due to the pandemic and he hoped that this tournament will also play its role in boosting sports tourism.
