S’wak to host International Sports Seminar in February next year
KUCHING: The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports through the Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) will jointly host the 5th International Seminar on Sports and Exercise with the Psychology Institute of Teacher Education, Tun Abdul Razak Campus (IPGKTAR) from Feb 6 to 7 next year.
In a press statement, its minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah believes that a specialised international seminar focusing on diverse sports and exercise psychology will provide a platform for international exchange of knowledge and strategic networking.
He highlighted the success of New Zealand which captured four gold, nine silver and five bronze medals at the 2016 Olympic Games despite having a population of only 4.6 million.
SSC chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee said that the last conference and seminar in collaboration with IPGKTAR - the Sukma International Sports Science Conference 2016 - was held in conjunction with Sarawak as host for the 18th Sukma and attracted more than 300 participants and 24 speakers from Australia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia.
The biennial seminar next year is expected to draw about 300 delegates from various countries.
Among the keynote speakers are International Society of Sports Psychology vice president Prof Dr Young-Ho Kim, Asian Society of Kinesiology and Asian-Pacific Association of Sport Psychology vice president Prof Dr Frank Jing-Horng Lu and Federation Internationale D’Education Physique Asia vice president Assoc Prof Dr Wee Eng Hoe. There will also be 18 international invited speakers and five national speakers. Dr Chin Ngien Siong (IPGKTAR), who is the seminar’s coordinator and deputy chair of the Sarawak Coaching Advisory Panel, briefed Karim, Assistant Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Snowdan Lawan and Ong on the seminar and SSC’s strategic plans for Sarawak sports.
Further details on the seminar will be announced in due course.