S’wak to leverage on ‘home turf’ to regain Para Sukma title

KUCHING (Sept 3): Sarawak’s Para Sukma athletes are poised to help the state win the targeted 83 gold medals to reclaim the overall title.

This was the observation of Minister of Women, Childhood, and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, who stated that the athletes could leverage on the advantage of competing on “our home turf.”

She noted that they are also able to familiarise themselves with the venue “earlier” during their training sessions.

“This is important as we want to ensure that the overall championship for Para Sukma returns to Sarawak after narrowly losing to Sabah in the previous edition,” she added.

The minister made these remarks after observing those training for athletics at the Sarawak Stadium here yesterday. Athletics, she stressed, is a key sport for Sarawak as it offers many gold medals.

“Therefore, we must win as many medals as possible in athletics, and we are targeting 30 gold medals from this sport,” she said.

Fatimah revealed that yesterday was already the third day that the athletes have been training at the eventual competition venue.

“Our para athletes have a tight training schedule, six days a week, which has been arranged by the coaches.

“Judging by their spirit, I am confident that the success they achieved in the previous Para Sukma will serve as their best motivation,” she said.

Also present were Opar assemblyman Billy Sujang and Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap.

Meanwhile, The Borneo Post spoke to some of the Sarawak athletes on their preparations and ambitions.

Nur Farhani Kudus, 21, from Kuching, who will run in the 100m and 200m (Women’s T47 category) is focused on Para Sukma and beyond.

“I have been training for a month and I’m almost at 100 per cent. I hope to contribute two gold medals for Sarawak and, hopefully, progress to a higher level, such as the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games,” she told reporters.

Hailing from Serian is 31-year-old Richard Bada who is eyeing three gold medals in shot put, discus and javelin (Men’s F41).

“With the games approaching, there’s no room for rest,” he said, adding that he has been preparing for Para Sukma for two years.

Jamal Nasir, 43, who switched from bowling to athletics 10 years ago, will compete in the shot put, discus and javelin (Men’s F45) category. He is aiming for gold in the javelin.

Para Sukma 2024 will feature 10 sports namely swimming, athletics, badminton, table tennis, tenpin bowling, boccia, lawn bowls, powerlifting, archery and chess.

An estimated 2,000 athletes and officials will gather in Kuching to participate in the 334 events from Sept 22 to 28. Sarawak will be represented by 213 para athletes.