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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

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