MELAKA – Melaka are eyeing 20 gold medals in the 20th edition of the Malaysia Games 2022 (Sukma 2022) in Kuala Lumpur from September 16 to 24.
State Youth Development, Sports and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Committee chairman VP Shanmugam said Melaka expect to win medals in wushu, badminton, silat, petanque and swimming.
“For Sukma 2022, Melaka will send a total of 488 athletes to compete in all 31 sports and they are athletes from the existing list for the Johor Sukma 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid-19.
“We are aiming for more than 10 percent from the tally of 18 gold, 18 silver and 18 bronze medals we bagged at Sukma 2018 in Perak,” he said in Ayer Keroh here today.
Earlier, he officiated at the certificate handover ceremony for Fostering of Athletes programme in conjunction with Sukma 2022, which was also attended by Melaka State Sports Council director Mahathir Mustafa.
Shanmugam said the appointed adoptive “fathers” and foster agencies were responsible for monitoring the progress of training and maintaining the infrastructure needed by the teams and athletes they represented.
“A total of 21 state assemblymen, government officials, agencies and departments have been appointed to be adoptive fathers and adoptive departments for the 31 sports to be contested in Sukma 2022.
“In addition, the state government also allocated about RM1 million to finance the needs and equipment of the Melaka contingent at Sukma,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mahathir said a major challenge facing them was to prepare athletes who are able to maintain their level of fitness and achievements following the two-year Covid-19 pandemic, which has had a major impact on athletes’ performance. – Bernama, July 24, 2022
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