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| State weightlifting squad pose with Karim (second row, fourth left) and other guests in a photocall at Crossfit Kuching Gym yesterday. |
KUCHING: State weightlifters now have a new location – the Crossfit Kuching Gym – to train.
According to Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the decision to train at the gym is part of the strategic plan to achieve more gold medals for Sarawak in the next Sukma to be held in Perak next year.
“Weightlifting is a potential sport and a total of 34 golds will be on offer in Perak for weightlifting, and we look at it as a possible goldmine for the state contingent,” he said at the gym yesterday.
Sarawak won one gold, three silver and three bronze medals at last year’s Sukma held in Kuching.
Describing that performance as unsatisfactory, he added, “as the host state, we could do better, and we need to plan early. Therefore we need to plan and formulate our winning formula from now.
“I predict that we can do better next year,” the new Sports Minister forecasted.
Highlighting proper planning by the Sarawak Weightlifting Association (PABNS) and the injection of about RM10.9 million by the state government to turn Sarawak into the sports powerhouse, he said it is exciting to see the outcome in Perak Sukma 2018.
“We still have about nine months to groom them, and we already have our elite athletes under training. We hope that more talents can be unearthed in time for the event.”
“There is definitely something that we need to rectify as we had not won the Sukma title since 1994 and I as the new sports minister will look into solving this,” he added.
Also present at the event yesterday were Youth and Sports Assistant Minister Snowdan Lawan, PABNS president Gerald Rentap Jabu and Sarawak Sports Corporation chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee.
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