Wish upon wushu stars for gold rush

July 11, 2016

Karim (centre) with Wushu Federation of Sarawak (WFS) deputy president James Ting (fifth right, second row), WFS officials and members as well as the Sukma XVIII wushu team during the Hari Raya open house at Jalan Astana yesterday.

KUCHING: Wushu will continue to be a solid gold prospect for the Sarawak contingent in Sukma XVIII which will be hosted by Sarawak from July 22-31.

Sukma XVIII chef de mission Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said he is very confident that the state wushu team will deliver the goods when it mattered most.

“I am very confident in wushu. So far, wushu has never failed us. I like the spirit inside team wushu… when they say they will deliver, they will deliver.

“We do know that they are very committed when it comes to training and performance. They are very united in their development and training programme,” he said.

“Yes, they have been a major contributor of gold medals in the past Sukmas and in the coming Sukma, I am very confident that they can continue to give a good performance and win the gold medals for Sarawak,” he said during his Hari Raya open house in Jalan Astana yesterday.

Karim, who is Assistant Youth and Sports Minister and also for Housing, said furthermore that Sarawak has the advantage of competing on homeground.

He expected other sports like taekwondo, boxing, swimming, tennis, archery, athletics to also contribute gold medals to the state’s title pursuit.

“Overall, we should be able to meet our target. We might not be able to achieve the 72-gold target, but if we can get 65 gold, we

should be the overall champions,” added Karim.

Three-time winner Sarawak last won the Sukma overall championship title in 1990 when it was the host, and in 1992 and 1994. Meanwhile, Karim will be going down to the field to monitor the training programmes of the 24 sports which are involved in Sukma XVIII.

“I will be going to Sibu tomorrow and Miri the next day, after which I will visit as many sports as I can in Kuching.

“Many officials and athletes from sports associations have also come to visit me during this Hari Raya open house,” he said.

Karim said 20 assistant chef de mission (ACDM) have been appointed, with most of them looking after one sport while some will oversee two sports.

“I have signed the appointment letters and I think the ACDMs will receive them next week either tomorrow or the next day,” he said. -TheBorneoPost