S’wak On Road To Excellence

BY TONY MARIADASS
Easterntimes

KUCHING: If only the other states’ sports councils and state governments in the country can emulate Sarawak, Malaysian sports will be placed on a firm footing for the future.

Sarawak is the one State that just do not sit round waiting for handouts from the Federal Government. It initiated many sports programmes on their own.

Yes, they do get assistance from the Federal Government through the National Sports Council’s branch in Kuching, but it is the action-orientated and foresight of the State Sports Council headed by the Minister of the Social Development and Urbanisation Ministry, Dato Sri William Mawan, that has put sports programmes for Sarawak in place.

However, Sarawak’s sport prowess is not recent. Sarawak produced top level athletes as early as the 60s when Kuda Ditta became the first Sarawak-born athlete to qualify for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Sarawak’s real prowess actually made its mark starting from the late 80s.

Much credit of Sarawak’s rise can be attributed to the hosting of Sukma for the first time here in 2000.

I was there personally as a guest of the Sarawak Sports Council for the pre-Games tour and I covered the Games eventually.

Sarawak emerged as Sukma champions for the first time that year and it was no surprise seeing all the work they had put into the preparation. It was one of the best Games organised and Sarawak raised the bar for the rest to emulate.

The Games also saw sports facilities in the State being improved tremendously. It was an essential ingredient for sports to grow.

Not only had Sarawak emerge as overall champions, but they did better by continuing with their commitment towards excellence in sports, especially at the youth level.

It cannot be denied that the setting up of the Sarawak State Sports Council under the National Sports Council Malaysia Act 1971, Schedule ll (amendments) 1979 which was officially established on October 10th 1985 by the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, was what set Sarawak sports in motion.

Among the Sarawak athletes who have done the State proud include the likes of Salomon Ismanto, Bujang Taha, Ballang Lasung, Gladys Chai, Albert Blassan, William Yeo and Suhali Yusuf.

Sarawak’s next generation of athletes emerged with the likes of Jong Nyan Chong, Jessica Lau. Lee Chiew Ha, Suhari Salem, Mazlan Wahid, Shafie Ali, Jackson Ting, and Jonathan Lim.

Among the more famous names to emerge in recent times include Watson Nyambek and Sapok Biki.

Watson has the proud record of having broken the national record for the 100m in 10.46 seconds set by Datuk Dr Mani Jegathesan, when he clocked 10.33s, while Sapok did the nation proud by becoming the first Malaysian ever to win a gold medal in boxing at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Without doubt, Sarawak has an abundance of talent. The question is: who has the task of spotting these talents and nurturing them into international athletes.

Sarawak is certainly not sitting around doing nothing and hoping for talent to emerge.

They have always given sports priority and work hard at it with constant updating in systems, strategies, knowledge and improving sports facilities.

Having realised their initial vision to become a sports powerhouse by 2010, they are now embarking on the journey to the next level to become even more prominent by 2020.

The most recent effort is the appointment of the Australian Business Centre (ABC) as consultants for the State’s Sports Development Master Plan Study in their efforts to become a national and regional sports powerhouse by 2020.

The project involves formulating a comprehensive long-term strategic plan for the State immediately running up to 2020.

More importantly, the State has realised that the move to the next level requires a professional setup and management.

The development programme will involve 40 sports associations and that is a huge task at hand.

It will be two prong-attack where besides strengthening the potential high performance sports and looking into proper management, maintenance, promotion and marketing of all existing Stadias and sporting facilities, the future is given equal emphasis with greater grassroots programes and participation, especially at schools.

Private sectors and non-governmental bodies will also be roped in for the State agenda and their involvement, especially in sponsorships will play a key role in the extent of the success of this vision.

Already sports like tenpin bowling and soccer have good programmes in place.

While a national training centre has been set up here for ten-pin bowling, with former national bowler, Jackson Ting in-charge, the Sarawak Football Association, have recently launched a long-term development programme involving schools.

Soccer also has former soccer coach and manager, Alan Vest, from Australia coming regularly as a part-time technical director, to conduct coaching courses to upgrade the level of coaches and impart the latest knowledge on the game.

Diving will also have a Centre of Excellence in place later this year and this recognition of Sarawak’s prowess in the sport.

In the past, Sarawak in their eagerness to upgrade sports in the State, have made some mistakes in engaging the wrong people, but they are certainly wiser and moving in the right direction now.

Other states had better watch out for Sarawak. It is already making an impact at national level in various sports.

The underlying factor in Sarawak’s success story is that they always have long-term plans and have more often than not, got the right people to chart their upward trend.

Sarawak certainly has the right attitude for sports and their persistence to excel, will certainly be seeing many more athletes from the Land of the Hornbills soar to greater heights and do the State and nation proud.

Keep up the good work, Sarawak. Then you will definitely be an example for many states to emulate!

RM1.5 Million For State Football Devt Programme

BY NORNI MAHADI, Easterntimes

MIRI:Sarawak Government has allocated some RM1.5 million towards the successful implementation of State Level Five-Year Football Development Programme.

Assistant Minister for Sports, Datuk Lee Kim Shin said such allocation has proven the government seriousness to develop the State sport industry in line with the effort to make Sarawak the sports powerhouse.

“A total of 600 participants from 30 selected secondary school sport development centres are taking part in the programme. The participants are divided into Under 15 and 17 years old,” he said when officiating at State Level five-year Football Development Programme at Dynasty Hotel, here, last Saturday night.

Datuk Lee, who is also the Chief-De-Mission Sarawak Contingent SUKMA XIII 2010, pointed out that the development programme is timely as Sarawak’s performance in the sport is worsening.

Lee added that under the programme, three regional development centres are being set up - one each in Kuching, Mukah and Miri.

30 Coaches To Benefit From Vest’s Course

KUCHING: A total of 30 coaches will benefit from the higher level of coaching course to be conducted by Englishman coach Alan Vest in Miri from Feb 10-13.

He’s here as a part-time technical director helping us to set up, plan and implement a five-year development programme.

“At the moment, under our development project we have 30 coaches where Vest will go to the ground to give the coaches a refresher course and work with them so that they will be upgraded to a higher level in the field of coaching,” the co-ordinator of the project, Lucas Kalang Laeng said.

“On other days he will also be working with the State SUKMA team and his trip here is a follow-up of last year’s visit where he did a coaching course for coaches.”

“This is part two of a series of his work with us to develop football,” said Kalang of the former State coach who will conduct the course at the Miri Stadium which will be divided into various sessions starting from 8am.
He added that three full-time coaches - Sulaiman Mustanir, Jamal Waslie and Pengiran Bala - had been appointed to look after the development efforts at the regional centres of Kuching, Sibu and Miri respectively.

Sports school plan very much alive

by Simon Ingka Crown
TheBorneoPost

State government not sitting back and doing nothing, will study proposal thoroughly before taking next step

KUCHING: The proposal to build sports schools based on the Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar concept may not materialise any time soon but the state government is not sitting back and doing nothing about it either.

Social Development and Urbanisation Minister Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom assured that there would be a thorough relook at the proposal before any decision was made.

“We will review the performances of all the sports. If they warrant the building of sports schools, then the state government will take the appropriate action.

“Of course, if there is proof that a particular sport in the state can produce Olympians, we’ll certainly take a note of it.

Sarawak kuasa sukan negara 2020

KUCHING 1 Feb. - Sarawak berhasrat untuk menjadi kuasa sukan negara menjelang 2020, kata Menteri Pembangunan Sosial dan Urbanisasi negeri, Datuk Seri William Mawan Ikom.

Beliau berkata, rancangan 10 tahun itu akan dicapai menerusi pelaksanaan Kajian Pelan Induk Pembangunan Sukan Sarawak 2020 yang dimulakan pada Januari lalu.

Menurutnya, ketika ini, kajian pelan induk itu dilaksanakan oleh Australian Business Centre (ABC) yang terkenal dalam kajian pembangunan sukan di peringkat antarabangsa.

"Secara keseluruhan, kajian itu akan merumuskan satu pelan pembangunan sukan bagi jangka panjang yang komprehensif dan strategik untuk Sarawak.

"Dan tempoh kajian pelan itu akan memakan masa selama lapan bulan sebelum laporan tersebut dihantar kepada kementerian untuk diteliti," katanya di sini hari ini.

Sarawak Football: Rome Not Built In A Day

BY JEREMY VENO, easterntimes.

KUCHING: The five-year football development plan which is being spearheaded by the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS), has the long term objective of producing top-notched local players to revive the glory days of Sarawak football.

The initiative is going to start full swing this year, up till 2015 where a meticulous development plan being drawn to cover the whole of Sarawak.

According to a spokesperson from MSNS, the development initiative is still in its infancy stage, where the proposal for the programme made on June 12, 2009 had just been given the green light from the State government.

The good news of the approval also came with a financial boost of RM1.5 million per year allocation by the State government to MSNS for executing the five-year programme, which will see the council will working very closely with the State Education Department.

“These schools are important assets to us. They are the ones supplying us the huge pool of players and coaches and we can also save money on the facilities as the schools can make use of their own football fields for training and competitions,” he said.

Commentary On The Sorry State Of Sarawak’s SUKMA Football

KUCHING: The recent announcement of the launching of the Football Development project after a year’s delay and thousands of ringgit in grant must be music to the ears of success-starved Sarawak football fans.

If the report by a local newspaper that former Sarawak legendary coach Alan Vest will be the director of coaching is correct, Sarawak football shall have a strong SUKMA squad this time. 

It may be able to enter at least the semifinals or capture the SUKMA trophy after the millions of ringgits spent.

But why Vest who is semi-retired and who has already stated that he will never hold a full-time job unless he is invited to do short courses or give a few day’s coaching clinics.

He might be a legend and well versed in development, but he will not be able to give his all. 

Big boost for state football devt - RM1.5 mln annually for five years programme

by Ting Tieng Hee, Theborneopost

KUCHING: The Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) got a big shot in the arm on Thursday when its application for funds to run a five-year football development programme was given the nod by the State Cabinet.MSNS director Francis Nyurang Ding said with the funds, the Council could proceed with implementation immediately.

“I have just been notified by the state government today that the application we submitted last year has been approved, and we will be given RM1.5 million annually for five years to run the programme,” he disclosed on Thursday.

Francis said the groundwork was, in fact, laid last year when the Council organised a course in June for 33 coaches in Miri.

Former Sarawak coach Alan Vest conducted the course with the assistance of state football development coordinator Lucas Kalang.

According to Francis, the programme was on hold for a while as the council was awaiting the government’s approval for the application.

RM3 MILLION FOR SARAWAK'S 5-YEAR FOOTBALL PLAN

KUCHING, May 19, 2009 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Social Development and Urbanization has estimated an expenditure of RM3 million or RM600,000 annually for the state's five-year football development plan, its minister Datuk William Mawan said today.

He said the development plan aimed to achieve the following targets -- Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2012 (quarter-finals), Sukma 2014 (final), President/Youth Cup 2012 (quarter-finals), President/Youth Cup 2013 (final) and a strong senior team for the Malaysia League in 2014.

"The success will depend largely on the availability of budget and sponsors and I, therefore, urge both the government and corporate sectors to contribute generously towards these programmes," he said in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting here.

Mawan said the plan included setting up the Sarawak Football Development Steering Committee (SFDSC), putting the Sarawak Sports Council to be in charge of football development in the State, while the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) would now concentrate on the senior team and the Malaysia League.

He also said the youth team (currently playing in the President Cup under 20) would be placed directly under the Sarawak Sports Council which would groom them up to become the backbone players for the Senior Team.