Selection of sports for 2024 Sukma done openly, no prejudice - NSC
KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- The selection of sports to be contested at the 2024 Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak was done openly through the cooperation of all stakeholders without any prejudice towards any other sports.
National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi said the decision involving the type and the total number of sports to be contested was made by the Sukma Supreme Committee, which comprises state Youth and Sports Committees as well as Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) members representing the national sports associations.
“During the March 16 meeting, the Sukma Supreme Committee admitted that of the 103 sports registered under the Sports Development Act 1997, only part of them could be included to ensure quality organisation and the provision of logistics support services based on the capability of the organiser.
“As such, the Sukma Supreme Committee accepted the summary of the Sukma Transformation Workshop that was attended by representatives from all state sports councils and the Ministry of Education from Feb 16-18 that only 28 sports be selected based on the four Basic Selection Justifications,” he said.
He said this via a statement issued by the NSC today in response to the issue raised by Kabbadi Association of Malaysia secretary-general Peter Gopi, which has gone viral.
Peter, in the video that has gone viral, expressed his disappointment when kabbadi was not listed as one of the sports selected for Sukma.
According to Shapawi, the selection of the 28 sports was done based on four basic justifications, with the first one being that the sport is contested in the Olympics and national athletes qualified on merit by taking into account the last three editions (2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics and 2012 London Olympics).
The second justification is that the sport is contested at the Olympics and Asian Games/Commonwealth Games, where national athletes have the potential to win medals by taking into account the last two editions of the Asiad (2018 Jakarta/Palembang or 2014 Incheon) as well as last three editions of the Commonwealth Games (2022 Birmingham, 2018 Gold Coast and 2014 Glasgow).
As for the third justification, it is that the sport is not contested at the Olympics but at the Asian Games/Commonwealth Games and national athletes have the potential to win medals by taking into account the last two editions of the Asiad (2018 Jakarta/Palembang or 2014 Incheon) and last three editions of the Commonwealth Games (2022 Birmingham, 2018 Gold Coast and 2014 Glasgow).
The fourth justification is that sports that are popular and participated by a majority of Malaysians are contested under the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) and have existing infrastructure facilities in most schools, government and private premises nationwide.
He said that based on the four justifications, 28 of the sports were selected, among them aquatics (swimming and diving), weightlifting, badminton, cycling (track and road), gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic), golf, fencing, archery, shooting, athletics and sailing.
Also listed are hockey, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, karate, lawn bowls, pencak silat, sepak takraw, squash, tenpin bowling, wushu, football, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis.
“Sarawak as the host of the 2024 Sukma has also been allowed to list four selected sports and chose boxing, muay Thai, e-sports and petanque,” he said.
However, he said the chances of the remaining 75 out of the 103 types of registered sports to be included in the following editions of Sukma are still open, starting with the 2026 Sukma.
-- BERNAMA
