Clarifying status of ATM athletes for Sukma XIII

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KUCHING: Athletes who are permanent staff of the Armed Forces (ATM) will represent the state in which they are based if they are selected for Sukma XIII this coming June.

Francis Nyurang Ding

Francis Nyurang Ding

Disclosing this yesterday, Sarawak State Sports Council director Francis Nyurang Ding said this was one of the decisions reached at a meeting between ATM representatives and directors of state sports councils in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

“For example, we can register four boxers from Kedah because they have been based here for more than a year,” he said.

Likewise, he added, any Sarawakian who is an ATM personnel based in Kedah, will represent that state.

He said the other decision was that temporary ATM staff would represent their own state no matter where they were stationed.

“The meeting was necessary to clear the air because in previous Sukma, there had been misunderstandings between ATM and the states on the status of ATM athletes.”

However, it was agreed that in competitions other than Sukma, the staff concerned would represent ATM and all state sports associations would have to release the athletes to ATM.

On pinching of athletes by the states, Francis said it was not a big problem because the state sports council directors would meet to amicably decide the ‘ownership’ of the athletes.

“What we normally do is to submit the list of athletes to the Sukma Secretariat and should there be any duplication of names, the state sports council directors concerned will meet to decide who represents which state,” he explained.