Miri Youth, Sports Centre courts to be refurbished, repurposed

MIRI (Sept 25): The two existing tennis courts at Miri Youth and Sports Centre near SK St Columba here will be refurbished and turned into multipurpose courts, says Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I Datuk Sebastian Ting.

When inspecting the courts yesterday, he said the courts had been abandoned and that it was time to repurpose the facilities for other uses.

“My visit today is meant to explore the centre’s upcoming development and assess whether it could accommodate other sports such as pickleball, which is rising in popularity,” he said.

According to Ting, the Miri Youth and Sports Centre is under the purview of the Youth and Sports Ministry.

He said the centre had received RM2 million from the state government and RM500,000 from the federal government, which would be utilised towards building an indoor football court that would also function as a multipurpose court and a volleyball court.

“The allocations will also be used to repair the football field, as well as to improve the fences and other amenities surrounding the centre,” he added.

Ting, the assemblyman for Piasau, also pledged to investigate the current land usage at the centre, in order to determine whether a pickleball court could be built, adding that this would require consultation with the Land and Survey Department.

“Currently, pickleball has over 237 registered players.

“However, because of not having a proper court, the players would rent tennis courts or multipurpose courts from private recreational clubs through the Miri Pickleball Association.

“With the sport’s rising popularity and number of players, these places are unable to meet the growing demand; hence, the idea of building a pickleball court at the Youths and Sports Centre.”

Also present during the inspection was Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Ministry (Mysed) divisional officer Nicholas Bujang.