KOTA BARU, Jan 12 — The Youth and Sports Ministry will focus on upgrading and constructing sports infrastructure in rural and semi-rural areas, in a bid to enable a larger portion of Malaysians to benefit from such facilities.

Its minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said this would help avoid a situation where such efforts were limited to urban areas.

The move follows the need for good sporting infrastructure in rural and semi-rural areas in many states, he told reporters here today after an awards ceremony for the Youth Power Club at the state’s Kompleks Belia dan Sukan.

"For example, we will upgrade halls, futsal courts and such,” Syed Saddiq said, adding that priority would be given to areas with a high population of youths.

On the construction of more sports complexes, he said the ministry would look at the needs in a particular area, explaining that it would be better to build smaller facilities in more areas for the benefit of more people, as opposed to one large piece of infrastructure which cannot be enjoyed by many.

Syed Saddiq cited the example of Sabah ‘"which is so large and its population is not centred in one place”.

The minister said a similar approach would be adopted towards the hosting of programmes, in that emphasis would be placed on organising more small-scale events in many areas, compared to just one large-scale affair. — Bernama