KUALA LUMPUR – This year’s Sportzattex Community Asia-Bukit Jalil Sports School (SAECA-BJSS) Athletic Championship will focus entirely on the digitalisation of the field of play when it is held from December 2 to 4 at the National Sports Council Mini Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Event sponsor Innotex Group’s chief executive officer Zulkipli Ghazali said this year’s event will use a “photo finish” system as well as other digitalisation tools.
“Timekeeping and live results can be accessed easily though personal devices. The timekeeping system we have is on par with international tournaments.
“Not only that, but we will also be implementing electronic distance measurements tools to keep track of the data,” he said today at the event’s launching ceremony in Wisma OCM.
He added that during the tournament, the photo finish system is put place to avoid any problems.
“Everything will be computerised so things will run smoother and easier.
“So, if any protest occur, we can simply refer to the photo finish and electronic distance measurements to cross-check,” he added.
Not only that, the tournament will also be shown live on YouTube so that parents of participants from Sabah and Sarawak could still watch the event virtually.
In terms of participation, the event has surpassed its target of 1,300 participants, which was the turnout in the event’s last edition in 2019.
“Currently about 1,430 participants have already signed up for the event, including some from Singapore.
“We expect to reach 1,500 participants by tonight when the registration closes.
“There are four categories in the tournament, which are under 12, under 14, under 16 and also an open category,” he said.
According to Zulkipli, any athlete that breaks the national record will get RM1,000, courtesy of Etiqa, while RM100, RM60, and RM40 will be given to the first, second and third place finishers in each event.
Meanwhile, Olympic Council of Malaysia assistant treasurer Datuk Mohd Nasir Ali said that this year’s event will promote the “Say No to Smoking and Clean Up Green Up” campaigns.
“The main goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and educate young athletes to live a healthy lifestyle by getting those in the education industry to be interested in sports.
“We also hope this will create a new culture in sports that does not involve social issues such as smoking and doing drugs so they will not arise in the future,” said Nasir, who is also the chef de mission for the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.
Innotex Group is the largest supplier and operator of timing equipment and scoring systems in Malaysia, and have also managed timing equipment for SEA Games, Malaysian Games and the Malaysian Schools Sports Council.
This year’s tournament will be 4th edition as the past two years were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tournament has also received the full support of BJSS, the Education Ministry, NSC, and the Federal Territory Amateur Athlete Association. – The Vibes, November 15, 2022
