ISKANDAR PUTERI, Oct 27 — EduCity will focus on the sports grassroots programmes next year which is in line with their plan to create more world class and regional sporting champions.
EduCity Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd Director Wan Ahmad Saifuddin Wan Ahmad Radzi said rather than organising sports event, the education hub is also striving to develop more talents especially with the upcoming Malaysia Games (SUKMA) in 2020 to be hosted by Johor.
“We need to grow people and not just destination and renting out the place, it’s not just about that, having a place that starts to create interest within the kids and then having grassroots programmes are very important for us.
“We have created a few national athletes, of which one of the sports is swimming and our aquatic centre is highly used by various clubs,” he told reporters after the pre-launch of EduCity Dusk to Dawn Ultramarathon Malaysia 2018 and running clinic at EduCity Sports Complex here today.
So far, EduCity has hosted or is working together with sports associations to organise such programmes.
Among the sports that have been actively using EduCity’s facilities were rugby and swimming.
“In fact, we are currently in the process of upgrading facilities in the (aquatic centre) to be Olympics levels very soon so that we can host more international events,” he added.
Apart from that, he said EduCity also aimed to be a top sporting arena with world class facilities to attract more sports tourists through educational events such as EduCity Dusk to Dawn Ultramarathon Malaysia 2018.
Wan Ahmad Saifuddin said EduCity would definitely play a role in SUKMA 2020, either as rugby and swimming venues.
For the upcoming ultramarathon event, runners are invited to participate in five different race categories — 5KM Rookie, 12KM Challenge, 20KM Dare, 45KM Endurance and 60KM Dusk to Dawn.
Those who are interested to join the inaugural Dusk to Dawn Ultramarathon Malaysia 2018, can log on to http://www.dusktodawn.run To continue the momentum, EduCity would be hosting a variety of local and international sporting events in November and December which is 5th EduCity Swim Meet, EduCity Kickboxing League 2018 and EduCity Duathlon and Spartan Race in early 2019. — Bernama
