KUCHING: Morethan 60 dancers from Sarawak, Sabah and the Philippines are expected to compete in the coming Sarawak Online DanceSport Championships 2021 organised by Sarawak DanceSport Association (SDA) on Dec 5.
The dancers will compete in the DanceSport Standard, Latin, and Breaking disciplines and also Classical Ballet and Contemporary events.
According to SDA in a statement, SDA president Chester Lim said that the championship is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Sarawak (MYSS), Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) and Sarawak Youth and Sports Department (SYSD).
He added that Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah will be officiating at the event.
During a courtesy call on Abdul Karim by SDA officials on Thursday (Nov 18), the minister unveiled the event posters and video, witnessed by MYSS permanent secretary Nancy Jolhi.
The SDA officials in attendance besides Chester were its vice-president Dr Victor Bong, treasurer Poon Tzia Lok, assistant secretary Randell Lim, and Breaking Division leader Ho John Cris Panganiban.
In the new norm as result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister commended SDA for initiating the online championships to reboot dancesport activities in Sarawak, adding that online events could be part of the sports scenario in future.
Abdul Karim, who is also Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC) Minister, praised SDA for pitching in to promote Sarawak as a tourist destination, by highlighting the Sarawak Tourism Board’s (STB) ‘Sarawak – More to Discover’ logo in the Sarawak Online DanceSport Championships 2021 posters.
He took the opportunity to congratulate the two Sarawak breakers Mike Ting and Law Ing Chung for emerging among the Top 8 in the recently concluded Malaysia national championship.
He also noted that breaking is already included in the competition programme for the 2024 Paris Olympics and this is a big boost to all who are dreaming of making it on the Olympics stage, adding that he expected Sarawak breakers to give it a good fight.
Meanwhile Chester, who is also Malaysia Dancesport Federation secretary-general, said that the number of participants was encouraging given the long layoff and due to standard operating procedures (SOPs), many had just resumed their activities and training about six weeks ago.
Moreover, this is the first time that SDA is running an online championship and its officials led by Bong had to be re-trained to operate an online platform for DanceSport events.
Chester expressed his gratitude to Crisaldo M Rendon of Cebu, the Philippines and the Sabah DanceSport Association headed by John Chong as president and his committee members for lending support to develop the online platform.
He also thanked MYSS, MTAC, MSNS, SYSD, and STB as well as participating dancers and championship judges for their support.
