RM2.8m grants for sports associations
KOTA KINABALU: State associations received close to RM2.8million worth of government grants to further develop their respective sports in Sabah.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Frankie Poon presented the incentives at a special ceremony here yesterday which also commemorated the achievements of State athletes that had shone at national and international championships last year.
Out of 50 that received a share of the grants for 2019, archery and weightlifting associations received the biggest slice of RM125,000 each, followed by aquatics and rugby associations with RM123,000 and RM122,000 respectively and sepaktakraw with RM105,000.
Football and cycling associations received RM99,000, while other big-slice recipients included the associations for sailing (RM98,000), karate (RM95,000), hockey (RM91,000), golf (RM90,000), fencing (RM89,000), badminton (RM87,000) and basketball (RM86,000).
Meanwhile, State athletes with disabilities received RM79,400 worth of cash incentives for their achievements at the Malaysian PARA Games 2018, while their able-bodied counter-parts received RM115,400.
Able-bodied athletes from 19 associations received incentives, the largest piece of the pie going to track and field athletes with RM59,500.
In his speech, Frankie hoped that the grants and incentives would translate into even greater achievements for sports in Sabah.
“I place high hopes that the grants and incentives presented here today would be a stepping stone for those in the sporting fraternity to continue to strive for excellence.
“Since 1987 the Youth and Sports Ministry has given out incentives to high-achieving athletes and I hope that this scheme would be a catalyst for sports associations in Sabah to work even harder for greater success,” he said.
Also present at the ceremony were Assistant Minister Arunarnsin Taib, permanent secretary Datuk Awang Damit Anak and Sabah Sports Council director Mohd Asneh
Meanwhile, Sabah Archery Association newly-elected president Dzulkarnain Dzulkifli said they would use the grants to continue focusing their efforts on the development activities.
“We place high importance on developing athletes and developing coaches so a bulk of the grants will go to these areas.
“We will have more programmes that help give exposure to our archers and we will have more programmes to develop and enhance the knowledge of coaches.
“We also want to use the money for organising activities that can engage participants at a young age.
“We started some programmes for under-10 archers last year and the response was very encouraging. We will continue this and have more events for this age group because we believe in developing talents at a young age,” he said.