Gerald (fifth, left) and Liew (fourth, right) pose with boys and girls singles champions Chan (fourth, left), Sawashiro (sixth, right) and beaten finalists Mietusch (third, left) and Podgorichani (fifth, right).
Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (Sept 11): Dato Gerald Rentap Jabu has outlined the huge task of organising the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma) to be held in Sarawak next year.
The Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development provided an update during a press conference at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) courts yesterday.
“We have to plan everything well because the games this time will feature 37 sports and that will indeed be challenging for us as organisers,” he said.
The 21st Sukma main committee met as recently as last Friday. The state government is currently in the process of identifying consultants and contractors to help repair or improve the various competition venues.
“The venues for the games have been identified as well,” Rentap added.
Sarawak, he stressed, wants to be a very successful organiser, hence the support and cooperation from all sports associations is vital.
The deputy minister highlighted that the various sports will be contested in various venues throughout the state. Finding an adequate number of staff and volunteers to help run the games was also mentioned.
“It is crucial to have the right number of staff and volunteers for the games due to the number of events (about 500) in Sukma next year. Finding them is also challenging for us as well,” he said.
Meanwhile, SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew, who was also at the press conference, revealed that the state Sukma tennis team will comprise nine boys and nine girls.
Rentap and Liew briefed reporters after witnessing the boys and girls singles finals of the 39th Premier Sarawak Cup/ ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors J100 yesterday.
Tournament 12th seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan beat top seed Lidia Podgorichani of Thailand in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to lift the girls singles title.
In the boys singles final, ninth seed Bill Chan of Singapore staged a comeback to prevent an upset from 15th seed Lieven Mietusch of Germany to eventually prevail 0-6, 7-5, 6-4.
The tournament was held at the SLTA courts from Sept 5 to 10.