Snowdan (right) presents a memento to Kawamoto. Also seen (from second right) are Chan, Tan and Yap. — Photos by Chai Boon Tart
KUCHING: Judo is a potential sport for Sarawakians to bag gold medals in Sukma and the SEA Games, said Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Snowdan Lawan.
However, he regretted the low participation among young Sarawakians in the sport.
“Judo is a potential sport in the future. What is lacking now is participation. As I can see in Kuching that Chung Hua Middle School (CHMS) No.1 has been active in Judo training, but I do not see other places (divisions) grooming Judo players.
“I personally would like to see the sport being groomed well in Sarawak, to have more participation from places like Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Kapit and Sarikei,” he said when closing the 5th Sarawak-Japan Friendship Judo Training Camp at CHMS No.1 here yesterday.
More than 100 students and children took part in the three-day camp organised by the Sarawak Judo Association to cultivate the art of Judo.
Snowdan also acknowledged that there was a lack of coaches to guide young Sarawakians in Judo.
“There will be no athletes if you have no coaches. It is true that we have only one full-time coach at the moment, and so we need a sensei (instructor) to groom more coaches for the sport,” he said.
He was quick to add: “We will make sure to train coaches with good qualifications because Judo is one sport that we can produce gold medallists in Sukma and SEA Games.”
Earlier, Sarawak Judo Association president Francis Chan thanked Japanese instructor from Nosaka Junior High School, Hiroshi Kawamoto for his continued efforts in leading the camp in the past four years.
Chan said the training camps conducted by Kawamoto had helped Sarawak produce national and regional champions in Judo.
He also thanked the National Sports Council of Malaysia for having assisted the association all these years.
“We are in the process of setting up centres in Miri and Sibu. Hopefully we will have the 6th camp next year with participation from Miri and Sibu, after we set up the centres there,” he added.
Among those present were Tan Kai, political secretary to the Chief Minister who represented Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, and principal of CHMS No.1 Yap Choon Guan.