Sarawak prepares early for Sukma 2016 — Mawan
by Matthew T. Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on July 26, 2012, Thursday
Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom
KUCHING: The Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) has already begun preparation for Sarawak to host Sukma in 2016, with a steering committee being formed to ensure the successful hosting of the Malaysian Games.
Sarawak played host to the Malaysian Games some twenty-two years ago in 1990 to emerge overall champions of Sukma III.
The state would then achieve an unprecedented feat of a hat-trick Sukma wins, emerging champions in 1992 and again in 1994.
“In preparing to host the 2016 Malaysian Games (Sukma), we have already formed a steering committee to identify potential venues and the required planning for the successful hosting of Sukma 2016, in about four years from now.
“The steering committee will travel state-wide to conduct an audit and survey on our current sports facilities and identify potential new sites to host the various Sukma 2016 sports events. We aim to host the best ever Sukma and to do so, preparations must be made early,” said Senior Minister and Minister of Social Development Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom to The Borneo Post in an exclusive interview at his office yesterday.
Mawan added that the state is honoured to be given the chance to host Sukma 2016 and will do all it can to ensure that it becomes an event to remember.
Kuala Lumpur hosts the Malaysian Games next year with Perlis taking over duty as host in 2014. The games will return to Kuala Lumpur once more in 2015.
“We will be observing and learning the best practices of the 2013-2015 Sukma games. Our officers are to learn in running these Malaysian Games as we want to avoid potential weaknesses in our quest to host the Sukma successfully in 2016.
“Nevertheless, I am confident that we will be a successful host in 2016 as we have already kick-start the necessary preparations,” he revealed.
However, Mawan admitted that the current sports facilities available in the state are inadequate for the needs of staging the games.
“We still have the time to plan ahead and to materialise the goal of having these facilities up and ready for Sukma 2016,” he added.
During the interview, Mawan too disclosed that the post-mortem of Sukma XV has been completed.
For the record, he would like to thank Chef de Mission Datuk Lee Kim Shin and his team for a job well done in Kuantan.
He is hopeful that Lee will continue the good work for the upcoming Sukma Games.
On the performance of the athletes, Mawan was satisfied and congratulated the medallists and record breakers.
He also commended heads of the various sports association for the accomplishment.
Sarawak finished at fourth place after winning 42 gold medals in Kuantan.
Mawan is confident and strongly believe that it will be possible for the state to surpass the achievements in the next Malaysian Games and beyond.
“We could have gotten more medals as we only participated in two-thirds of the competed events in Sukma XV. I am glad that the 42 gold medals were evenly distributed among the events that we participated,” Mawan commented.
He continued that most states concentrated and placed their focus in only one or two sports events. One state for example even won 12 gold medals in archery alone.
For Mawan, the sense of optimism was legitimate as most of the Sarawak athletes are still young with the youngest medallist being only 12-years-old.
Most of the state gold medallists are still eligible to compete in 2016.
For the record, Sarawak finished Sukma XV with 42 gold, 32 silver and 38 bronze medals.
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