State to revive Suksar in bid to unearth new talents
KUCHING: The State government is trying to unearth as many new talents as possible to turn Sarawak into a sports powerhouse.
It is hoping to realise its aim by reviving and organising Sukan Sarawak ( Suksar) from Dec 14-17 this year. Last held in 1990 where Sarawak emerged as Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) overall champions, this year’s Suksar will involve 14 sports for able-bodied athletes and four sports for the physically- challenged athletes.
“Suksar will be divided into four zones namely Northern Zone ( Limbang, Miri, Bintulu), Central Zone ( Kapit , Sibu, Mukah), Western Zone ( Sarikei, Betong, Sri Aman) and Southern Zone (Serian, Samarahan, Kuching),” said Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“The 14 sports for able-bodied athletes are weight li f ting, badminton, cycling, handball, lawn bowls, judo, karate, archery, muaythai, athletics, petanque, rugby, swimming and sepak takraw (women’s) while the four sports for physically- challenged athletes to be held at the same time as Suksar are swimming, powerl if t ing, archery and athletics,” he said after chairing a meeting on Suksar at Stadium Negeri yesterday.
Regarding Suksar as a mini Sukma, Karim said Suksar will be held biannually and a year before every Sukma to unearth the best new talents and groom them for
We are looking to organise more major competitions to boost sports tourism where hotels, restaurants, transport companies can benefit from the spin-off effects.
Sukma and other national and international competitions.
For easier management and organising matters, this year’s Suksar will be held in Kuching with venues spread over Kuching, Samarahan and Santubong.
He added that the government would be trying to get youth organisations in the respective divisions in the state to be involved with the organising of selection competitions.
“We are also planning to have impact assessments on Suksar where we can ident i fy the weaknesses and problems and improve on the organising of future Suksar.
“We are looking to organise more major competitions to boost sports tourism where hotels, restaurants, transport companies can benefit from the spin- off effects,” added Karim. “If possible, I would like to see at least one regional or international competition being organised in Sarawak, not necessary only in Kuching but also in other divisions.”
On whether foreign- based athletes are allowed to participate in Suksar, Karim said it is up to the sports associations to include them in their teams.
“Of course, we don’t expect establ ished sportsmen and sportswomen like Pandelela Rinong to compete in Suksar and certainly they do not want to bring down their standard by competing with athletes in lower level competitions,” he pointed out.
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports