Snowdan (left) together with Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Sabah, Datuk Masiung Banah (centre) sharing a light moment with Khairy (right) during a meeting on this year’s Hari Sukan Negara (HSN) 2017 held in Putra Jaya recently.
KUCHING: The coming Hari Sukan Negara (HSN) 2017 is expected to attract a larger number of people to be involved including those from Sarawak especially after the successful staging of the recent KL SEA Games 2017.
This was disclosed by Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan who said there is growing interest in sports and games among the people who had followed closely the developments of the recent KL SEA Games in which Malaysia emerged overall champion.
“We had a meeting with Minister of Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin recently and together we shared the common view that the KL SEA Games had indirectly increased the local people’s interest in sports and games,” he said. “Such positive response will have good impact on the people’s support towards the coming Hari Sukan Negara which is also aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle and people’s involvement in sports and games”.
According to Snowdan, the basis for people to be involved in sports and games is to encourage them to have meaningful engagement with others through physical activities and events which also provide a wide range of benefits from both the health and physiology perspectives.
“We therefore must encourage people to get involve in sports and games in order to spend quality time with others and for them to become healthy,” he enthused.
“The involvement of youths in sports and games is also very important because they must be encouraged to use their leisure time for healthy activities with family and friends so that they will develop healthy bodies and minds.”
“As such, we call on youth bodies and non-government organisations (NGOs) especially those involved in sports to play their role in promoting the coming Hari Sukan Negara so that the positive impacts will have far reaching effects on our local communities,” he said.
He also said venue and date for launching of the state-level Hari Sukan Negara is expected to be announced soon by Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Meanwhile, Snowdan is leading Sarawak’s delegation to Rugao City, China on Sept 26, where he will present the bidding to become host for the coming 21st Asia Masters Athletics Championships 2019 (AMAC 2019).
He will be speaking to all the representatives of the Asia Masters Athletics Federation (AMA) from 20 different countries who will vote for the next host of the prestigious event in 2019.
The assistant minister will be accompanied by Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) Chief Executive Officer Dr Ong Kong Swee, patron of Malaysia Masters Athletics Association (MMAA) Datuk Seri Dr V. Pulainthiran and secretary general of AMA, S. Sivapragasam.
Sarawak is representing Malaysia in bidding for the 21st AMAC 2019 and is expected to face stiff challenge from other bidders including India and Indonesia.
“We are optimistic with our bidding proposal and for Sarawak to offer only the best facilities for the participants who are looking forward to experience the warm local hospitality which is well known all over the world,” he said.