Southern Zone declares intent to retain Suksar title

SERIAN (Jan 10): The Southern Zone contingent are on a mission to defend their Sukan Sarawak (Suksar) title this year.

This is despite the inclusion of many young athletes from the Southern Zone (comprising the divisions of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian).

According to contingent chief Caroline Cleophas Joseph, the squad is confident that their young athletes will be up to the task to bring glory to the zone.

“While we really want to defend and retain our title as champions, we also believe that developing young athletes is also important for the good of sports development in the state as well,” said Caroline, who is also Serian Resident, during a press conference at the Serian Resident’s Office yesterday.

Sibu will host this year’s Suksar from Jan 15 to 18. Suksar is into its third edition since it was reintroduced in 2017.

A total of 1,365 athletes will compete over  the four days in the 13 sports of weightlifting, cycling, basketball, volleyball, futsal, hockey, judo, karate, pencak silat, sepak takraw, boxing, taekwondo and wushu.

The athletes are 21 years old and below who have never won any gold medal in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) and are not involved in any national sports development programmes.

Suksar III also aims to prepare technical officials for the various sports as Sarawak is set to host the 21st Sukma in August this year.

The other three contingents are from the West Zone (Sri Aman Betong and Sarikei), Central Zone (Sibu, Mukah and Kapit) and Northern Zone (Bintulu, Miri and Limbang).

Northern Zone emerged as overall champions in the inaugural Suksar held in Miri in 2017 while Southern Zone topped Suksar II held in 2019.

The state government have said that Suksar is a key platform to drive Sarawak’s commitment to become a sports powerhouse in the country.