It is now official that Sarawak will become host for the 21st edition of Malaysia Games (SUKMA) in 2024 and the announcement was made by YB Hannah Yeo, Minister of Youth and Sports Malaysia during the press conference which was held at Putrajaya, Federal Territory on March 16.
We welcome the official announcement with much anticipation and thanking all members of the SUKMA Supreme Committee for their trust in giving us the job. The last time Sarawak became host was in 2016 and the 20th edition of the games were postponed due to the Covid19 pandemic. It was last held in Kuala Lumpur after Johor had declined the offer to become host in 2021.
The Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports had also announced that the Sukma in 2026 will be organised by National Sports Council (MSN). This is based on the agreement of the members to introduce a system of rotating the host alternately every two years between the National Sports Council (MSN) and the states. Kelantan had agreed to accept the responsibility of hosting the national multi-sport event in 2028 to give them a longer preparation period.
The rationale behind the host rotation system is to reduce the burden of the Federal Government in providing financial assistance to the states which covers the provision of construction and upgrading of sports infrastructure, the cost of organising and also the financing of the athletes’ preparation programmes at the state level
Starting next year, there will be 28 types of compulsory sports to be contested in SUKMA and these include aquatics (swimming and diving), weightlifting, badminton, cycling (track and highway), gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic gymnastics), golf, fencing, archery, shooting, athletics, sailing, hockey, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, karate, lawn bowls, pencak silat, sepak takraw, squash, tenpin bowling, wushu, football, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis. As the 2024 host, Sarawak was given the option of including some additional sports and had decided to list boxing, muay, petanque and electronic sports (e-sports).
However, this was subject to a minimum participation of six states as stated in the General Sports Regulations of Malaysia. The committee has also agreed for MSN to hold several engagement sessions with national sports associations and relevant stakeholders to study the possibility of including more types of sports in future editions of Sukma. This will be the third time that Sarawak will host the games after Sukma 1990 and in 2016.
The Sukma 2024 in Sarawak is expected to be organised in various locations in the state apart from Kuching to give other major towns the opportunity to organise national level sports events and experience the excitement.
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