KUCHING: Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has expressed his desire for Sarawak to win the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) championship when the event is held in the state in 2024.
He also mentioned during the launch of D’Drift 2023 at DayakDaily’s office here yesterday that Sarawak had previously won the SUKMA title in 1994, which was 30 years ago.
“It has been losing, but this time, there are no two ways about it. Not even second best.
“I told my deputy, and I told Sarawak Sports Council (SSC), I want Sarawak to be a runaway winner this time as the game host for 2024,” he added.
He expressed optimism on Sarawak’s chances of winning the SUKMA next year, citing factors such as the types of sports that would be included, the quality of facilities, and how the events would be organised across various locations in different divisions.
“The only way they could ‘kill’ us now is that we don’t participate in the sporting event,” he said.
He added that new rules in SUKMA could help Sarawak to have a better chance.
Additionally, he said that the opportunity for Sarawak to emerge as the SUKMA champion in 2024 would be even more significant because during a meeting of the Sarawak sports lab, it was decided to include four additional sports that the state excels in – namely, boxing, Muay Thai, petanque, and e-sports.
“The Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh, after listening to my line of arguments, has agreed that the four sports will be included in the 28 sports events in the 2024 SUKMA Games.
“But this would change in the 2026 SUKMA as there might be a new sport ruling to drop any optional sports, and it could be fixed to just 30 to 32 sports events,” he said.
Also present during the press conference were Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chairman Dennis Ngau,STB chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor, and Sarawak Forestry Corporation’s head of Enforcement and Protection Madhan Kifli.
