Eight championships and games have been lined up for these athletes to participate in, he said, and named them as the 5th Australia Youth Olympics Festival in Sydney (Jan 14-18); the First Asia Martial Arts Games in Bangkok (Apr 23-May 3); the Arafura Games in Darwin (May 9-17); the Asian Youth Games in Singapore (June 29-July 7); the World Games in Kaoshing, Taiwan (July 16-26); the Islamic Solidarity Games in Iran (Oct 15-20); the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi (Oct 30-Nov 8) and the 25th SEA Games in Laos (Dec 9-18).
"There are lots of opportunities for our athletes in every sport to compete at the highest level. So, there is no excuse for them for not working hard to become the best in Malaysia or in Asia or in the world," Sieh told Bernama Wednesday.
On the other hand, Sieh noted that besides the national sports associations, the state affiliates and schools were obliged to produce the future athletes.
"It is the responsibility of everybody and it is also a challenge for everybody to make the athletes to be the best in the state, in the country or in the world. We wouldn't have good national athletes if we don't have good state or school athletes.
"Now, we have to go back and see whether we have good school athletes first. Are there many of them or very few? Then, we go to the next stage. If there are really very good school athletes but there are no state athletes, then, there must be something wrong," he said.
Sieh said youth athletes should be given more opportunities to compete in local and international tournaments so that they can measure their strength and capability in their kind of sports, besides gauging their experience.
-- BERNAMA
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
2009 Year For Youth Athletes To Excel
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