SEA Games 2027: List of sporting events to be held in S’wak submitted to Putrajaya, says Abd Karim

KUCHING (Sept 2): Sarawak has submitted to the federal Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) the list of sporting events to be held in the state in the 2027 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), said Dato Sri Abdul Karim Hamzah.

The Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister said Sarawak had been asked to choose half of the 36 sports contested in the biennial multi-sport event.

“We have given our list to KBS, but this is not final because I was made to understand that there are other states that are also keen to organise maybe one or two sports.

“One of the states is Penang which has expressed its interest in hosting just one sport and the other is Sabah where its Youth and Sports Minister had requested from us to share co-hosting duties of some sports if possible.

“I am open to this because I feel that it is not for Sarawak to monopolise all the events. We have to share it with other states,” he told a press conference at his office in Baitulmakmur Building II here today.

He also said that he had received requests from Sibu and Sri Aman for some sporting events to be held in the divisions.

“We will consider this and discuss with our federal counterpart because this is a regional event. It is not a national or state event.

“I cannot make decisions unilaterally. It has to be discussed whether we can bring these events to Sibu, Sri Aman, Samarahan or Serian,” he said.

He pointed out that what is important is the sports facilities that are available to host the Games.

“I would say that swimming, diving and tenpin bowling should be held in Sarawak because we have got the best facilities when it comes to these sports.

“For tenpin bowling, I don’t think there are any other states in the country that has a 42-lane facility like what we have at Megalanes Sarawak.

“Then there’s also our shooting range which is presently the top in Malaysia after we upgraded the facility for the recent Malaysia Games (Sukma),” he said.

KBS in a statement last week said Malaysia has agreed to accept the offer from the Southeast Asian Games Gederation (SEAGF) to host the 2027 Sea Games after taking into account the commitment pledged by Sarawak, Sabah and Penang to co-host the games.

It said the three states have expressed their willingness to use their own allocations to co-host the Games with Kuala Lumpur.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently announced that the federal government has agreed to designate Sarawak as a co-host of the regional sporting event in 2027 after the state demonstrated its capability to host major sporting events with outstanding management of Sukma 2024.