UMS Staff League Games kicks off
KOTA KINABALU: Sports can make big positive impacts where fitness and health are closely related to productivity as well as the degree of happiness among staff, said University Malaysia Sabah deputy vice chancellor Professor Dr Ismail Ali.
“Therefore, despite financial constraints, this important sporting event must continue to be held annually for the benefit of all staff,” Ali said at the launching of the UMS Staff League Games.
He was representing UMS vice chancellor Professor Datuk Dr D. Kamarudin D. Mudin. Some 900 people attended the ceremony, including UMS sports centre director Mohd Asyraaf Fong Abdullah, among others.
Dr Ismail said the involvement of staff will encourage interaction and relationship among all in the university’s working community and that it gave participants a platform to gauge their competitive spirit in a healthy way.
He added that the event this year was different from previous editions in that the sports and games will be on-going for two months.
“There is a slight variation in the format where we decided to go with the popular sports to suit the facilities that we have and that the events would be held in a league format over the duration of two months.
“In contrast to the last edition, this is to encourage staff to continuously be involved in sports and not just a one-off affair,” said Dr Ismail.
He also noted that a new Sports and Recreation Club for UMS staff will play a significant role in sports and recreation activities and programmes for staff.
Dr Ismail also encouraged staff to continue their active lifestyles and always concentrate on their daily life.
A total of 17 contingents will be taking part in eight sporting disciplines, namely futsal, volleyball, sepaktakraw, tennis, table tennis, darts, chess and ‘amazing race’.
Towards this end, Dr Ismail said the university’s management was also planning to host the 44th Malaysian Public Universities Inter-Staff Staff Sports Championship in the year 2020.
“This would be the right time to host the event because UMS will celebrate its 25th silver jubilee anniversary,” Dr Ismail said.
For the record, UMS hosted the national level event in 2003.