Large numbers expected at Asia Masters Championship

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Snowdan (fourth right) exchanges the MoU documents with Viwat Vigrantanoros during the signing ceremony held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

KUCHING: Veteran athletes from many countries worldwide are showing keen interest in competing in the 21st Asia Masters Athletics Championship (AMAC), which will be held in Kuching on July 29 next year.

Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan is optimistic that the prestigious event will achieve the expected entries of 3,500 athletes from over 40 countries.

“We are very enthusiastic about next year’s AMAC because many of the competitors have not been to Sarawak but they have heard so much about us from those who have been here.

“Many are coming to join us in the event next year because they are curious about Sarawak,” he said.

According to Snowdan, the 21st AMAC is expected to attract a lot of participation because it is also being held in conjunction with ‘Visit Sarawak Year’ in 2019 and the event is also being highlighted in many of the state’s tourism promotion campaigns overseas.

He said the Asia Masters Athletics Association (AMA) are also playing its role in promoting next year’s event among its members who come from throughout Asia region namely those in the International Associations of Athletics Federation (IAAF), which has 215 member nations.

On another development, Snowdan recently attended a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony with AMA in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Balai Ringin assemblyman was representing the state government while AMA was represented by its president Viwat Vigrantanoros who is also from the Sports Authority of Thailand.

Other witnesses were patron of Malaysian Masters Athletic Association Datuk Seri Dr V Pulainthiran and AMA secretary general Sivapragasam Sivasambo, vice president of AMA Wang Dawei, while Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) was represented by its head of engineering Gordon Hon.

The launching ceremony of 21st AMAC 2018 logo was held on Jan 29 in Kuching and performed by Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah, who was accompanied by Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, Malaysian Paralympic Council (MPC) president S M Nasaruddin and Sarawak Masters Athletic Association (SMAA) president Datuk Seri Azman Samaon.