ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government is hoping to meet newly-appointed Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh over the direction of its state youth programmes, says state executive councillor Mohd Hairi Mad Shah.
He said the state government hopes to get federal aid for its youth initiatives, especially for the Orang Muda Johor programme.
“We hope the Federal Government will be able to help and channel the relevant allocations so that the people in Johor can benefit from the initiative,” he said in his reply to Ng Kor Sim (PH-Jementah) and Gan Peck Cheng (PH-Penggaram) during the state assembly meeting here yesterday.
Mohd Hairi also said the state government, through the Johor Sports Council, is working to implement a grading system for the state’s sports associations to encourage more sports activities.
He added that the sports council had implemented the Grit 2030 programme by selecting four main types of sport – swimming, cycling, athletics and karate – for coaching and athletes’ development.
“The sport types were selected because they are core sports and compulsory events in the Malaysian Games (Sukma).
“Positive results can also be seen in Sukma this year where these sports contributed medals to the Johor contingent,” he said.
Mohd Hairi also said the pool of athletes had increased through the Grit 2030 programme.
Prior to the introduction of the programme, the number of potential athletes in these four sports did not exceed 500.
“However, after this programme was introduced, there has been an encouraging increase in the participation of athletes in tournaments,” he added.
