KUALA LUMPUR — Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh is urging the National Sports Associations (NSAs) to ensure that their athletes enhance their performance if they hope to secure funding and sponsorships for their programmes.
The minister emphasised that NSAs should be more diligent in their efforts, rather than solely relying on the government for financial support.
“Every sports association tells us that they don’t have enough money, and we can’t cater to everyone’s needs.
“At the ministry level, we have established various ways to assist the NSAs in obtaining sponsorship, including the sports matching grant and initiatives for tax exemptions for tournaments.
“Sponsorship is built through an audience, and there is a need for all NSAs to work harder to increase their viewership.
“The NSAs must improve their performances so that more people will watch the sports, allowing them to attract more sponsorships, as money doesn’t grow on trees,” said Hannah at the 2024 Malaysian Athletics Awards in Kuala Lumpur last night.
Meanwhile, Hannah commended the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) for their athletes’ performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games and hopes the association will continue their excellent work.
“MAF has been doing a great job over the years, producing top-class athletes who have brought pride to the nation in the Asian Games.
“They should not stop here and need to start planning as soon as possible, coming up with programme proposals to increase their athletes’ ratings.
“We, at the ministry level, will continue to support the association through our sports matching grants, which are worth RM 50 million,” Hannah added.
According to the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS), since November last year, they have received over 900 sports grant applications from various parties looking to organise sports events and programmes throughout the country.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games held in September last year, Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi secured a historic bronze medal in the men’s 100m event, 41 years after the last national athlete reached such heights in the Asian Games.
He finished 0.14 seconds behind the gold medalist from China, Xie Zhenye, who completed the race in 9.97s.
The previous instance of Malaysia claiming a medal in the 100m event was in 1982 when Datuk Rabuan Pit achieved this feat.
Shereen Samson Vallabouy also made her mark by ending Malaysia’s 17-year medal drought in the women’s 400m event in the tournament. — January 15, 2024