Skip to main content

Games boost for Olympic sports

IN a bid to give Malaysia's push for an Olympic gold medal an added boost, the National Sports Council (NSC) will stage a multi-games event specifically for Olympic sports in August.

While the details are still being worked out, the "mini-Olympics" will not have any limitations as to age or experience and will feature all the country's top athletes.

Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in announcing the staging of the mini-Olympics, said the event will only feature Olympic sports and be held every alternate year to the Malaysia Games.

"The NSC is preparing a working paper, which will be completed in two weeks time, for the staging of a mini-Olympics in August.

"It will only feature Olympics sports with no age restrictions. It will be open to all," he said after presenting incentives to Malaysian athletes who won medals at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) and last week's Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
However, Ismail Sabri said the mini-Olympics would not rival the Malaysia Games as the focus would be different.

"The Malaysia Games is for the youth and features all kinds of sports. This event is restricted to Olympic sports as we don't want to make an issue of which sport should be included.

"It will also be used partly to prepare for the Sea Games in Laos. In future, we may expand the mini-Olympics to include foreign athletes but let's see first how this year's event goes," said Ismail Sabri, who made good on his pledge at the Beijing Olympics last August to pay more attention to Olympic sports by holding a biennial event to cater to selected Olympic sports.

Ismail Sabri said the Malaysia Games, which began as an open affair in 1986, will also see changes.

"From 2016, the age limit for the Games will be lowered to Under-21 across the board and those who had competed at the Olympic Games will not be allowed to feature," he added.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri presented RM21,200 to 24 athletes who won medals at the CYG in Pune, India on Oct 12-18 last year and the Jan 13-18 AYOF in Sydney.

Malaysia won three gold, four silver and six bronze medals in Pune while the haul from the Sydney invitational event was 4-3-4.

NST

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...
12 comments
Read more

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sports press clippings on the 24 April 2008

Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (centre) speaks to athletes after giving away the Olympic qualifying incentives in Putrajaya yesterday. — Pic: RAMDZAN MASIAM Thomas Cup Equally Important, Says Ismail PUTRAJAYA, April 23 (Bernama) -- Although Malaysia want badly a badminton gold at the Beijing Olympics in August, winning the Thomas Cup in Jakarta in May is equally important, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob. "My ministry deems all events participated by the national badminton squad as important including the Thomas Cup, which Malaysia last won in 1992. "Statements made that the Beijing Olympics takes precedence over other events is not the position of the ministry," he told reporters at his office here today. Ismail said no matter what events Malaysians competed, seeking glory for the nation should be the overriding priority. He said this when asked to comment on remarks by national badminton chief coach Yap Kim Hock on...
Post a Comment
Read more