Sarawak ends 30-year wait as Sukma champ, pips FT by one gold

KUCHING (Aug 24): Sarawak has ended a 30-year wait to be crowned the Malaysia Games (Sukma) champions after winning the competition on home ground this year.

Sarawak secured 76 gold medals, 54 silver and 69 bronze to pip the Federal Territories (FT) which had 75 gold, 66 silver and 72 bronze in a nail-biting finish.

The last time Sarawak was overall champions of Sukma was in 1994 when the biennial multi-sport Games was hosted by Johor.

It was then a third consecutive title for Sarawak which started in 1990 when the state was the hosts and followed two years later in Perak.

Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah in a social media posting at about 5.44pm confirmed Sarawak had secured the top spot.

Aquatic events contributed the most gold to Sarawak with 18, comprising nine each from swimming and diving.

This was followed by taekwondo with an impressive haul of 11 gold.

Athletics, muaythai, petanque, tenpin bowling, wushu and pencak silat each contributed five gold, while boxing secured four gold.

Artistic gymnastics, sailing, squash, golf and archery teams contributed two gold medals, while badminton, judo, karate, volleyball, fencing and artistic gymnastics each contributed one gold.

Swimmer Kelly Teo was the female athlete from Sarawak with the most individual gold medals with six, while the male athlete with most individual gold medals was Jonah Chang Rigan with three in athletics

Teo won gold in the women’s 200m freestyle, women’s 400m individual medley, women’s 200m backstroke, women’s 800m freestyle, women’s 400m freestyle and women’s 1,500m freestyle.

Jonah, whose ‘no pork, no power’ quote has become a sensation, won gold in the men’s shot put, men’s discus throw and men’s hammer throw.

His throw of 17.66m in shot put was the new Games record. Other record breakers from Sarawak were Ng Jing Xuan in women’s javelin throw (new Games record off 45.12m) and Hii Puong Wee in men’s 200m backstroke swimming (2:06.59).

Stephanie Chu in wushu was the first to win gold medal for Sarawak on Aug 14 through the women’s changquan event, and she followed up with two more gold in women’s jianshu and women’s qiangshu.

Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg on Aug 17 announced cash incentives of RM17,000 per gold medal, RM5,000 per silver and RM3,000 per bronze to boost up the morale of Sarawak athletes.

Abdul Karim a few days later explained the cash incentives will be split evenly by those athletes competing in group and team events, and the Sarawak government will top up the amount to make sure each group and team member gets to pocket at least RM1,000.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Sports Commission chief executive officer Awang Putrayusrie Awang Redzuan said the Sarawak contingent had performed very satisfactorily by breaching the target of 70 gold medals.

“Some teams have shown exceptional performance like petanque with five gold medals, muaythai 5 gold, boxing 4, gold, sailing 2 gold, squash 2 gold, fencing 1 gold and judo 1 gold.

“And the best performance came from taekwondo, diving, bowling, wushu, swimming, field athletics events, silat and golf

“Overall, the sports performance of other states is also increasing and this is good for the future of Malaysian sports,” he said.