Lee (second right) speaking to reporters at the press conference while deputy CDM Affandi Keli (second left), assistant CDM Dr Ong Kong Swee (right) and Sarawak State Sports Council director Lucas Kalang Laeng look on.
KANGAR: Sarawak will be setting up a special committee to look into the performance of the teams taking part in Sukma XVII.
The committee to be headed by Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee will comprise a team of experts who will analyse why some sports are doing well and while the others are under performing.
It will also assess the current training programme of all the sports involved in Sukma.
“The 22 teams in this Sukma will be divided into three categories, the performing sports, the under-performing sports and the non-performing sports,” said Assistant Sports Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin in a press conference here late Tuesday evening.
According to Lee, those performing sports were swimming which won nine gold medals, wushu (five golds), tennis (four golds), tenpin bowling (six golds), petanque (three golds), archery (three golds) and diving that sprung a surprise to win two golds. Under-performing sports included silat, boxing, athletics, taekwondo and weightlifting while the non-performing sports (with zero gold) were football, men’s and women’s hockey, badminton, canoeing, sepak takraw, golf, cycling and karate-do.
“We got to look at the performing sports, why they did well and how they can do better, at the under-performing sports why did they fail to perform to expectations, and at the non-performing sports for why they failed to perform,” said Lee, also the Sarawak chef de mission for Sukma XVII.
He said the state athletes had shown good potential to become champions in Sukma 2016 in Sarawak.
“Some of the very young athletes won medals in Kangar and in two years’ time, I believe they can even do better,” said Lee.
In the 17th edition of Sukma, Lee said Sarawak had achieved its target of finishing among the top three teams.
Sarawak finished third with 48 gold, 32 silver and 35 bronze medals behind new champions Kuala Lumpur who captured 55 gold, 38 silver and 49 bronze medals and Terengganu who won 51 gold, 55 silver and 31 bronze medals.
“Unfortunately, we did not meet our 55-gold target. However, we have improved our performance by finishing third when compared to fourth placing in Pahang (2012) and sixth placing in Melaka (2010),” said Lee.
The Assistant Minister of Communications noted that the performance of other states have also improved and that the medals were well spread out among the competing contingents.
“Kuala Lumpur won because they swept all the nine golds in rhythmic gymnastic and bagged 10 golds in swimming, five golds in taekwondo and four in athletics,” he said.
As for Terengganu, their strength still lies in canoeing where they won 14 golds, and they also eight golds in archery, six each in athletics and cycling and four golds in optimist sailing.
Minus the canoeing golds that Terengganu won and the rhythmic gymnastics golds that Kuala Lumpur won, Lee said Sarawak could have been the champions.
“The gold medals difference among the top three teams is not big and even Perlis have improved greatly with 10 gold medals when compared to only two in Pahang,” he pointed out.
He said Sarawak needs to continue with talent identification, develop the potential talents and groom them into high calibre athletes. “We will also bring in foreign professional coaches and upgrade local coaches as well as upgrade our technical officials and sports equipment.”
On the state’s preparations for hosting Sukma XIX in 2016, Lee said he has requested the National Sports Council director Datuk Seri Zolkoples Embong to come down to Sarawak early to look at the venues and facilities.