Sukma XX, NSC 2022 to be held from Sept 29-Oct 8

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (Bernama) -- The 20th edition of the Malaysia Games (Sukma), postponed for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will finally be held from Sept 29-Oct 8 this year in the Klang Valley.

The National Sports Council (NSC) said in a statement that the Games, to be known as 'SUKMA XX, NSC 2022’, would involve 31 types of sports, namely 16 compulsory and 15 optional, besides two demonstrations sports - silambam and kabaddi.

According to the statement, the Sukma Supreme Committee meeting today also agreed to maintain the rules and regulations on age limit that had been agreed earlier for this edition.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said in the statement that the Cabinet had, on Feb 23, voiced its support for and approved the hosting of this edition by the ministry through the NSC.

“This is to ensure the development of sports at the state-level could be implemented consistently so that the country would not have a shortage of able replacements to compete at the highest level,” he said. 

However, the exact number of events to be contested is subject to the minimum number of entries of eight states for each sport and event and will be decided at the Sukma Technical Committee meeting in the near future.

The Sukma Supreme Committee also agreed for the SUKMA XX, NSC 2022 Para Games to be held from Oct 29 to Nov 6.

The 20th Sukma, which was supposed to have been held in Johor from March 6-14, 2020 had to be shelved several times due to the pandemic before it was agreed that the NSC would host the Games in the Klang Valley.

Following that, several parties urged the organisers to raise the age limit for this edition to 23 compared to 21 and below as athletes had begun making preparations long before the pandemic struck.

Johor, meanwhile, will host the Games in 2024.

-- BERNAMA