By Ammar Shafiq Hamzah
KUCHING, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The Sarawak e-sports team sees Selangor as its biggest threat in the 21st Malaysia Games (SUKMA), which will be held here this month.
Sarawak e-sports team manager Darren Kueh said his team is wary of Selangor but believes that playing on home turf would give them the edge over other teams.
“Selangor is our biggest competitor because all their players have a lot of exposure, especially in international tournaments.
“Despite this challenge, we are targeting three golds in the racing simulator events and also aiming for podium finishes in other games,” he told Bernama recently.
Regarding the team’s preparations, Darren said they started in March, and the athletes have been staying at a training centre.
“We are putting them here (training centre) so that they can focus on their training. We also hold strategy discussions and reviews of previous matches with their coach at the centre,” he said.
He said the Sarawak state government has also been supportive, bringing out the best in the team.
“The state government even has nutritionists coming to provide supplements to our athletes. We also have psychologists engaging with our athletes to give motivational talks,” he said.
Commenting on Sarawak’s e-sports industry, he said it is still developing as many athletes lack exposure to competitions.
“Instead of sending our players overseas, we try to bring international tournaments to Sarawak. We want athletes from other countries like Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore to be here and give our athletes more exposure,” he added.
SUKMA 2024 will be held across nine divisions - Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu and Miri - from Aug 17 to 24.
The biennial games feature 488 events in 37 sports, comprising 236 men's events, 217 women's events, and 35 mixed events, and are expected to gather 12,619 athletes and officials.
Introduced in 1986, SUKMA has been hosted by Sarawak twice, in 1990 and 2016.
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