Ellron
KOTA KINABALU: The Youth and Sports Ministry has pledged to provide the best support for athletes preparation despite the many obstacles brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister Datuk Ellron Angin said the ministry is fully aware of the difficulties faced the state athletes where under the current unfavourable condition, it is tough for them to keep their fitness or performance at the highest level.
That said, he assured the ministry would do its utmost best so that the athletes training programme, including for Malaysia Games (Sukma) and Para Sukma, would be implemented smoothly.
“The ministry is aware of the many obstacles faced by the athletes who yearn to undergo full training under an ideal condition and with the facilities available to them.
“However it is not possible especially with the situation we are in at the moment. In fact many of the state training centres have been turned into a quarantine centres and alternative training venues may not have adequate equipment.
“All these have not only put unnecessary pressure on the athletes but also the coaches,” he said in a statement to the press today.
Ellron went on to say that another issue is the high cost involved in conducting training now.
The ministry recent announcement on allowing for quarantine-based training for high performance sports, which included Sukma and Para Sukma athletes, was one way to get them back to full training but the respective sports must provide for their own accommodation and that they are not allowed to interact with or receive visitors, including family members.
“There is also the need for transportation to ferry them to the training centres and all of these may require a high rental payment,” he added.
Having said that, Ellron called for all to persevere and not give up easily despite the difficulties faced, especially in the efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus.
He went on to praise the efforts of all the athletes, sports officials or coaches involved in doing workouts at home, quarantine-based or undergo online training like the state women sepak takraw team with their coach in Thailand.
He said such determination shows that nothing is impossible when it comes to wanting to achieve success.
“The ministry knows that the sports associations, teams, coaches, athletes and the parents have done their best so that Sabah will be a force to be reckoned with at the 20th Sukma and Para Sukma in Johor.
“We assure that the ministry will continue to motivate, provide advices and assistance to our athletes to ensure that our ambition and target in Sukma and Para Sukma next year will be achieved,” he said.
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