Hiroyuki (seated at centre) with Chan (second right) and (from right) SJA secretary Nyam Sze Young, deputy president Alvin Lau, MSNS head coach Anderson Venus, elite and development athletes.
KUCHING: Sarawak Judo Association (SJA) president Francis Chan’s work in promoting judo in Sarawak for more than two decades has not gone unnoticed.
It has received the attention from Japan’s deputy ambassador to Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur Hiroyuki Orikasa who made a special fact-finding visit to the state judo elite training centre in Pending on Friday evening and met up with him.
Hiroyuki was in Kuching on an official visit which included attending a tree planting ceremony in conjunction with the Tagasago-Unimas Educational Forest programme at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) yesterday.
“I am here today to meet Francis and find out more about judo here and on how to move the sport further forward. We are thinking of how to support judo in Sarawak. In 2020, Japan will be hosting the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and maybe we organise a tour to the event,” said Hiroyuki.
“We want to enhance our bilateral ties with Malaysia through sports with an exchange programme between the coaches and athletes from both Japan and Sarawak.
“I understand that there is an ongoing programme between Japan Malaysia Association and SJA where judo masters come from Japan come to Kuching to conduct short training clinics and donation of tatami (judo mats) and gi (judo uniform) to SJA,” added Hiroyuki.
“We have some sort of recommendation to give Francis an award in recognition and appreciation of his work in judo.
“He is not a Tan Sri or Datuk but a commoner and have made the most efforts to contribute to the sport and the community.
“We respect this kind of people,” he said.
Hiroyuki is also impressed with facilities at the elite training centre and the big number of young people taking up judo in Sarawak.
“Judo is our traditional sport and is very popular in Japan where boys in junior and high schools have to either choose judo or kendo as a co-curriculum subject. Through judo, you practise a high level of discipline such as how to respect your master, opponent, the community and country and also to defend yourself,” he said.
Francis first took up judo in 1977 and became SJA’s sixth president in 2008 after Thomas Lim, Goh Siew Hong, Jong Nam Seng, Liew Thian Hua and Charles Wong.