 |
| Hopefuls: Abdul Karim (sixth from left) presenting the Samarahan-Naim League trophy to Sanjung Etika at the function in Kuching. |
KUCHING: Hopes are high for Samarahan sides, Sanjung Etika and Sambir Bistari, to lift the Sarawak Champions League trophy.
Samarahan Division Football Association (SDFA) advisor Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah threw the challenge to the division’s representatives to spring a surprise at the annual state inter-club tournament, which will kick off on Sept 28 in Bintulu.
Sanjung Etika and Sambir Bistari were the respective champions and runners-up of this year’s Samarahan-Naim League.
“While you are there (in Bintulu), go all out and display high discipline and sporting spirit,” said Abdul Karim, who is also Assistant Youth Development Minister, at a handing-over of SDFA flags to the two teams here Thursday night.
At the function, he also presented RM20,000 to SDFA to cover the expenses of both teams in Bintulu.
On another note, Abdul Karim said the standard of sports, including football, in Samarahan had improved over the years due to effective development programmes in the division.
“Besides producing many footballers for the state squad, we (Samarahan) have also produced many promising talents in swimming, hockey and archery for the Malaysia Games.
Meanwhile, SDFA president Haidel Heli said both Sanjung Etika and Sambir Bistari were quality teams and it would not be far-fetched to say that they could be in the running to emerge champions in this year’s tournament.
On a related matter, he said the SDFA development programmes, which started in 2009, were beginning to show results.
According to him, the body organise five to six tournaments annually as well as conduct coaching and referee courses.
“Our mission is to raise the standard of football in Samarahan Division.”
Haidel also highlighted Samarahan’s latest achievement which saw them sweeping the Yayasan Sarawak Gold and Silver Cup titles.
In the Under-17 Gold Cup final, Samarahan defeated Kuching 2-0 while their Under-15 squad edged Sarikei 2-1 to bag the Silver Cup.
For this year’s Champions League, only 18 teams will vie for honours out of the original 19 after AZ United pulled out.
According to tournament director Duke Janteng, the Sarikei club had informed them and also Football Association of Sarawak about the matter.
AZ United were supposed to be in Group D with Betong’s EG Galaxy, Limbang’s Tiger FC and Kuching’s Persela FC.
Sambir Bistari are in Group C with Miri’s PDRM-BST, Mukah’s Nafas E10D, Sri Aman’s JKR and Kapit’s Hulu Rajang United while Sanjung Etika are in Group B with Sri Aman’s AY12, Limbang’s ABC Club, Betong’s 30 Junction and Bintulu’s MLNG.
Group A comprises SEG FC of Kuching, FBSB FC of Miri, Rezadi FC of Sarikei and Betek Wood of Kapit.
No comments:
Post a Comment