Tawfiq cheer on Sabah athletes for SEA Games
KUALA LUMPUR: SEA Gamesbound Sabah athletes have been urged to fight to the limit in the pursuit for sporting glory at 29th SEA Games 2017, which will be happening in the national capital next month.
In making the call yesterday, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan also wants athletes from the Land Below the Wind to play their respective roles and help the nation to realise its dream of making this edition of the Games their best ever.
“It is our desire to see our athletes win more gold medals, either through individual sports or team events in order to help the nation achieve its aim to make KL2017 their best ever in terms of gold medal collection as well as overall achievement,” Tawfiq said in a statement to the local media.
“Thus, the Sabah Youth and Sports Ministry urged all our athletes to do the best they can and bring honour not only to their families or states, but also the nation,” he added.
For the record, the last time Malaysia hosted the biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia was in 2001, where the nation emerged as the overall champion after bagging a total of 111 gold, 75 silver and 85 bronze medals.
A total of 32 sporting events were competed then. This time around, the Games will feature a total of 38 sports events.
The Games starts officially on August 19 but competition for some sports will commence early from August 14.
Tawfiq was also happy to note that this time around, the number of Sabah athletes representing the nation have increased.
“At the 28th SEA Games in Singapore 2015, we had a total of 28 athletes in the national contingent comprising 15 male and 13 female. This time, we are expecting the number to increase.
“Based on the number of our athletes who attended the first and second phase of the Kita Juara Program (We are Champions Programme), we will have more athletes representing the country compared to the Games in Singapore two years ago.
“Pending changes before the national contingent is finalised in two weeks’ time, we have 44 representatives currently undergoing training for the Games. Of the 44, 13 are male and the rest female,” added Tawfiq in the statement.
He also reminded state athletes to maintain a high level of discipline at all times in order to look after the good name of Sabah.
Among the athletes whom Sabah can rely on to do a good job are 110m hurdler Rayzamshah Wan Sofian, the Keningau-born runner who won a gold medal in his SEA Games debut in 2007 in Thailand.
In the Singapore SEA Games in 2015, he settled for silver.
Other athletes whom Sabah can pin on to do the job are Fatin Nurfateha Mat Salleh (archery), Jellson Jellson Bin Jabilin and Gabriel Gilbert Daim (diving) to name a few.