S’wak set realistic target
by Matthew T. Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 9, 2012, Thursday
TOP MEETING: Lee (seated second right) and Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) director Francis Nyurang Ding (seated second left) pose for a group photo with the officials and representatives of state sports associations after a dialogue session yesterday.
KUCHING: State contingent eyes modest 37 golds haul at Sukma XV.
Sports associations in Sarawak taking part in the Sukma XV in Pahang should set realistic and achievable medal targets.
“Our gold medal targets for Sukma XV must be very realistic as I do not want to give anybody false hopes. I have told all the sports associations to set their respective gold medal targets based on assessments made and benchmarks set during the previous Games,” said Assistant Minister of Sports Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
He also revealed that the state currently sets a modest target of 37 gold medals out of the 382 offered. Lee was speaking to The Borneo Post after a dialogue session with the various state sports association who would be involved in Sukma hosted by Pahang this July.
Lee pointed out that Sarawak must focus on events that offer the most medals such as athletics, aquatics, gymnastics, archery, shooting, cycling, archery, combat sports (wushu, karate, taekwondo and pencak silat), tenpin bowling and petanque which offers more than 10 gold medals respectively.
“It is not that we neglect the other sports but this is a competition and we also must look into our strategies on how to obtain as many medals as possible hence any sport which offer more gold medals opportunity should be our priority,” commented Lee on why Sarawak is choosing to focus heavily on certain sports during the next Sukma.
“Other states are improving rapidly and we cannot afford to be left behind. We must improve ourselves so that we remain the country’s sports powerhouse for as long as we can be,” he enthused.
On his predictions of medal hauls, Lee foresees that Sarawak can do much better than their previous outings.
He is confident this time that Sarawak will challenge for the title and be a serious title contender this year.
When asked on the current preparations made by the sports associations, Lee informed that all is going as planned except for some minor issues faced by some of the associations.
Lee assures that these issues will soon be rectified.
Wushu exponent Kelly Shu who was denied a transfer from her school in Sibu to Kuching for training, and the involvement Sarawak’s aquatics athletes like Pandelela Rinong, Traisy Vivien Tuket and Bryan Nickson Lomas – who will all represent Malaysia at the London Olympics, are issues that will be addressed soon.
