2024 SUKMA: SARAWAK ATHLETICS SQUAD'S STRENGTH STAYS IN FIELD EVENTS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 (Bernama) -- Sarawak's athletics squad has greater potential to achieve success in the field than the track events at the 2024 Malaysia Games (SUKMA) in Sarawak from August 17 to 24.

The view was expressed by Sarawak and country's legendary sprinter, Watson Nyambek, based on observations of the performance of Sarawak athletes in several previous competitions.

'The Flying Dayak' said the Sarawak athletics camp was able to win at least four gold medals in the field events.

As for the track event, the athlete who made two appearances at the Olympic Games in the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 editions explained that the current competition is getting stronger with the presence of many new talents.

"I see that the athletics team, in terms of its strength, can achieve the possibility of three or even four gold from field events.

"The track events I think are more difficult because we see Johor, Terengganu and Sabah also have good track runners.

"So in the field event, I think there is no problem in bringing home the gold. My target for athletics is three or four golds, and a track victory is a bonus," he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at Miri Stadium recently.

The 48-year-old 100 metre (m) silver medalist at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships in Japan is now continuing to devote himself to the development of athletic talent as a full-time contract coach of the Sarawak State Sports Council.

In this edition of SUKMA, athletics which will take place at Sarawak Stadium, Kuching from August 19 to 23, is offering a total of 47 gold medals.

For the record, the Sarawak athletics camp won four golds in the field event and one gold through the track event in the last edition, placing third behind overall champions Johor (nine golds) and Sabah in second place with seven golds.

The five golds came through the men's shot put, women's javelin, women's hammer throw, women's pole vault and women's 400 meter (m) hurdles.

SUKMA 2024 involves nine divisions namely in Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.

This year's games will see 37 types of sports contested involving 488 events consisting of 236 men's events, 217 (women's) and 35 more mixed events for men and women, besides bringing together 12,619 athletes and officials.

SUKMA, which was introduced in 1986, has been organised in Sarawak twice before, in 1990 and 2016.

-- BERNAMA