Tight security at Miri Indoor Stadium keeps spectators shut out but athletes ensure atmosphere still lively

MIRI (Aug 22): Police are tightly guarding both entrances to the Miri City Stadium, where Malaysia Games (Sukma) silat events are being held today, following yesterday’s incident of a plastic bottle and cup being thrown at the arena.

Due to the incident, the Sukma Sarawak Pencak Silat technical committee decided last night that no spectators would be allowed for the remaining matches until the end of the tournament tomorrow.

It is understood that nearly 40 policemen have been deployed to strictly control the stadium and its grounds today.

The personnel on duty are guarding the entrances to the stadium and only allowing those with passes or accreditation cards to enter.

It is also understood that all the police personnel will be on duty until the end of the tournament and medal presentation ceremony tomorrow.

A survey of the Miri City Stadium grounds found that there were no spectators present.

Although the stadium seats are mostly empty, the atmosphere remains lively as athletes have taken on cheering duties.

Yesterday, a plastic bottle landed in the arena area and a plastic cup landed in the technical area during the quarter-final match involving Sarawak’s Iman Syakilla Mahdi and Federal Territories’ Nurin Alyaa Damia.

This led to the postponement of other matches until this morning, which began with the Women’s Under 45kg category between Sabah and Terengganu in arena one.

The match in arena two involved Kedah against Pahang in the Putra E category.