ISKANDAR PUTERI: Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has challenged the Johor contingent to the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma) to go beyond the initial gold medal target.
He said he was confident that Johor athletes to the biennial event could meet the new target of between 50 and 55 gold medals, an increase from the previous target of 40 gold medals.
"I see that our athletes are ready and have made early preparations, ever since Johor was chosen as the host for 2020, which unfortunately had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic," said Onn Hafiz.
He said this in his speech at a ceremony to present the Johor flag to the Sukma contingent at the Dewan Utama Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri here.
Also present were State Secretary Tan Sri Azmi Rohani, the contingent's chef de mission Datuk Mohamad Najib Samuri and state Youth, Sport, Entrepreneur Development, Cooperatives and Human Resources Committee chairman Mohd Hairi Mad Shah.
Previously, Hairi was reported as saying that Johor was targeting 40 gold medals and a top five finish for the event, which is being held in the Klang Valley.
Johor is sending 526 athletes, who will be competing in 426 events in 31 sports. Among the sports that Johor is expected to shine are in canoeing, athletics, cycling, aquatics, shooting and football.
In his speech, Onn Hafiz said the state government was looking to increase the incentive for medal winners.
"I will discuss this with the State Secretary and the exco members. Nonetheless, I am confident that monetary incentives are not the main motivation for these athletes. Our strength is not only from physical strength but also from our never back down spirit," said Onn Hafiz.
For the 2018 Sukma, Johor gold medal winners were awarded between RM1,500 and RM3,000 each according to the category, between RM1,000 and RM2,500 (silver) and between RM750 and RM1,500 (bronze).
#kw: Sukma 2022, Johor, target, MB.