KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — The 2018 Perak Malaysian Sports (Sukma) Secretariat assured that the issue concerning the use of illegal substances will not happen this time.
The 2018 Perak Sukma Secretariat chief executive officer, Musa Dun insisted that the secretariat had obtained the cooperation of the Malaysian Anti-Doping Agency (Adamas) which would place its officers at all 39 competition venues for anti-doping tests.
“We at the secretariat will give full support to all efforts to ensure that the 19th Sukma is clean from aspects involving doping and this is also a goal especially for the selection of athletes who are not tainted with doping issues,” Musa said.
He said this when met by reporters after draws for 10 team events for the 2018 Sukma here today.
The events were football, badminton, 5x5 basketball, netball, handball, futsal, hockey, cricket, rugby and sepak takraw.
Sukma was previously tarnished by four cases of the usage of prohibited substances, namely, in the 2012 edition in Pahang, 2014 in Perlis and 2016 in Sarawak.
In the meantime, Musa said all competition venues had been fully completed except for two, namely, the track cycling event venue at the People’s Velodrome in Ipoh and the football event venue at the Kerian District Council field which were still undergoing facility improvement processes.
“We expect the first contingent to arrive in Perak on Sept 6, the venue acclimatising training on Sept 7 and the official commencement of the team event competitions on Sept 8,” he said.
For the record, Perak hosted Sukma’s fifth edition in 1994.
The 2018 Perak Sukma would take place from Sept 7 to 22. — Bernama
