KUCHING: A little over a month into the new year, fans are probably wondering what is in store for the local sports scene in 2019.
Sarawak is aiming to become a sports powerhouse in the country by 2020 and first up will be the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Johor next year.
“By then, Sarawak will be pushing to produce 50 per cent of the national athletes and by 2024, no Sarawak athletes will be attending sports schools at Bukit Jalil as all sports facilities will be established in the state,” said Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee back in 2018.
So, is the state on course to achieve this mission?
Sarawak has been doing relatively well in sports such as wushu, tenpin bowling, tennis, diving, taekwondo, swimming, athletics and volleyball, but what about the others?
Badminton, hockey and basketball – three sports in which the state has shown its dominance in the past – are experiencing a slump as of late.
Forget about football as the SSC cannot be looking after the popular sport, which should be under the football association’s purview.
Sarawak failed to win the Sukma champions crown in 2016 when the games was held on home soil.
When Perak played host to the 2018 games, Sarawak won 42 gold, 36 silver and 60 bronze medals to finish fourth.
Bowling and athletics contributed the most medals with seven gold each.
It is no secret that the strength of Peninsular states such as Terengganu, Selangor, Penang, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Johor is due to easy access to modern training facilities and sports schools.
Astute management coupled with millions of ringgit pumped into sports development have pushed up standards with the likes of Terengganu excelling in sports such as cycling.
For Sarawak to achieve its 2020 sports vision, it must have a national type sports school while the SSC must provide the leadership to work in tandem with the sports associations by providing them the facilities and technical support such as coaches.
Politics should never have a place in sports while fine management and planning must be in place.
Sarawak needs to look at better ways to develop top sports like badminton, which produced a national champion in James Chua in the 90s and Sukma champion Pei Wee Chung thanks to a junior development programme back then.
Athletics used to boast the likes of 100m sprint king Watson Nyambek, national middle distance runner and Southeast Asian Games gold medallist Mohd Jironi Riduan, distance runner Linda Chin and long jumper Chai Song Lip.
Fast forward to today, we only have hammer throw specialists such as Grace Wong Xiu Mei and discus throw athletes Abdul Rahman Lee and Queenie Ting.
The only track athletes that excelled in the previous Sukma were hurdlers Mohd Rizzua Haizad and Quek Lee Yong but there is no emerging talent in this event for the 2020 games.
Both Rizzua and Lee Yong will be over the games age limit by then.
Sarawak has consistently failed to perform in sports like weightlifting, cycling and boxing – all major events in Sukma.
In the national and international scene, questions will be asked again and again as to who will be taking over from champions like diver Pandelela Rinong or hammer thrower Grace Wong.
The state should contribute talents to take over from world-class shuttler Lee Chong Wei and national sprinter Khairul Hafiz in its bid to achieve sports powerhouse status.
Fans want to see major improvements and a shift away from sports in which the state is traditionally strong in such as wushu, tennis or tenpin bowling.
Efforts need to be done to push up sports like badminton, hockey, cycling and even football.
It has been ages since a real gem has been unearthed and local fans are hoping they won’t have to wait any longer.
