Ong (second right) with Rodzli (right), KBA president Johnny Ng (second left) and MSNS badminton development officer Nikram Shazran attend the meeting yesterday.
KUCHING: Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) and the Kuching Badminton Association (KBA) are looking forward to the much awaited Sarawak Junior Badminton Circuit next month.
The first series of the circuit will be launched at the Sarawak Multi-purpose Indoor Arena in Petra Jaya from Jan 11 to 13. Participants will be competing for the ranking points through the ‘tournamentsoftware’ platform.
SSC chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee and sports development division manager Ahmad Rodzli Hashim haveexpressed satisfaction over the run-up to the circuit behind many months of discussion and delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
All the 16 series will run on the same programme and the organisers will be given the licence to organise the event in their respective areas.
The platform will enable all participants to register for the competition by direct log-in to the tournamentsoftware.
SSC will be working closely with Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) and its affiliated clubs and associations to ensure that the circuit helps the development of badminton in Sarawak.
Categories to be competed are singles for Boys/Girls U11, U13 and U15.
The tournament itself is a non-elimination event with everyone playing the same number of matches whether he or she is the highest or the lowest ranked player.
“This type of tournament will only make the players, especially at this age group, to understand that winning or losing doesn’t matter when they can benefit from their matches to learn about their strengths and weaknesses,” said Rodzli.
It will adhere strictly to the SOPs and protocol set by the Ministry of Health, National Security Council and the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee to combat Covid-19.
“It is about time to see that our grass roots players are given the chance to participate and to enjoy this circuit. With its plan to play 16 events during 2021 within all regions possible in Sarawak, everyone will become active and be part of the growth to the sport that so many Sarawakian and Malaysians love,” said Ong after chairing a meeting on the circuit at SSC office at the Sarawak Stadium yesterday.