State sports fund system relook

MELAK A: The Melaka government will review the state sports associations fund-channelling system to ensure fairer and more systematic distribution.

State Communications, Multimedia, Youth and Sports Committee chairman Kerk Chee Yee said under the existing fundchannelling system handled by the State Sports Council, funds would be approved after the association had taken part in tournaments, training programmes or other sport activities.

He said the new system would allow fund applications to be channelled before sports programmes began so as to help associations carry out their planned activities.

“It will allow sports associations to find sponsors as the allocation given is usually insufficient, and they may not get the full amount due to National Sports Council’s (NSC) budget constraints,” he said yesterday.

He said the system was vital for the state’s sports development to produce young athletes, especially in high-performance sports.

Kerk said there were 38 sports associations in the state registered with NSC, and each association had sports clubs under its wing.

“The existing fund-allocation system makes it difficult for the associations to plan their programmes well due to the financial constraints they face, so much so they have to ask for financial assistance from members of parliament and state assemblymen through community service fund donation.”

He said the distribution of such a fund was on a first-come-firstserved basis as it was not allocated specifically for the purpose of youth and sports development.

“Those who submit their applications late would not be able to receive the limited allocation.”