Abdul Karim (centre) holds a t-shirt for the NSD 2016 after the press conference yesterday. Also seen are Zaini (fourth, left), Liew (third, right) and others.
KUCHING: Organisers of the state-level National Sports Day (NSD 2016) celebration hope to attract 600,000 participants in the statewide event tomorrow.
NSD 2016 is held on every second weekend of the month of October at the national, state, division, district and sub-district levels throughout the country.
The national level event will be held in Putrajaya while in Sarawak, the state level celebration will be held here at the Padang Merdeka.
Initially, organisers expected to attract nearly 534,000 participants from across the state but the number of participants is expected increase said Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah during a press conference for the celebration held at the Sarawak Youth and Sports Department (JBS) complex yesterday.
Last year, the organising committee claimed that the NSD celebration attracted more than 400,000 participants statewide.
To prepare for the state level celebration, an organising committee was formed chaired by Abdul Karim himself.
The federal government declared last year that every second Saturday of the month of October is a day to celebrate National Sports Day for families, women, special needs people, youths, seniors, students, employees from both civil and private sectors, and factory workers.
“On that day participants can expect all sorts of fun activities such as fun ride (10km and 30km), fun run (5km), zumba, aerobics, martial arts and trying out fitness equipments. There will also be sales of sports equipment by invited retailers during the celebration,” added Abdul Karim.
He added that a launching ceremony for the state level NSD 2016 will be held at Padang Merdeka, so participants are encouraged to come early.
“There were approximately 7,000 to 8,000 participants converging on Padang Merdeka from 7.30am for activities during the NSD celebration’s launching ceremony last year. Let’s hope that more will turn up on Saturday (tomorrow),” he said.
A lucky draw with interesting prizes will also be held during the NSD 2016 at the Padang Merdeka with a Demak DX90 motorcycle being offered as grand prize.
Also present during the press conference were KBS deputy director Zaini Abdul Aziz and Kuching Marathon Association (KMA) secretary Liew Tang Chieh.