Sarawak sports minister calls for revamp of national competitions
KUCHING: Sarawak Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has called for the reformation of sports competitions in the country.
He said this especially applies to the Malaysia Games (Sukma).
“At the last Sukma XX 2022, women’s diving was not included.
“How do you expect athletes to be produced when even women’s diving is not competed in the national sports event. What went wrong?” he questioned during a press conference here on Wednesday.
According to him, the federal Youth and Sports Ministry should have veto power to include diving as a Sukma event, even though there could be fewer than the six states required to participate in the sport.
“Even if there are only two or five states participating, diving should be included and this is for the sake of sports development in the country.
“If there are no diving pools in the states or where women are not allowed to wear swimsuits, you can’t hope for diving to develop there,” he pointed out.
Abdul Karim said states led by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) such as Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, and Perlis are not expected to send women divers to Sukma.
“That means automatically four states are out of diving in Sukma. It also means they are losing out and you can’t expect diving to develop in those states,” he stated.
On a brighter note, the minister said Sarawak is doing very well in diving and has 15 divers in the national backup squad.
“Out of the 15, seven are training in Kuala Lumpur. We are contributing (producing divers) and helping out but don’t just leave it to Sarawak only because Malaysia is not just about Sarawak.
“We also need the other states to contribute. If they don’t have the athletes, they must try send athletes to Sukma.
“For the athletes to improve and go to a higher level, they need to keep on competing,” added Abdul Karim.
The minister was responding to the dismal performance of the national diving squad during the recent Doha World Aquatics Championships. This included two-time Olympic medallist Datuk Pandelela Rinong Pamg, who failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.