Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports, Dato' Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob having a word with Naim.
MALAYSIAN National Cycling Federation (MNCF) deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad proposed that the National Sports Complex be renamed the Sports City of Malaysia and his wish was almost immediately granted yesterday.
Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was already in the pipeline as efforts are made to breathe new life into the sprawling complex in Bukit Jalil.
"This was already planned when I headed the Merdeka Stadium Corporation (the managers of the National Sports Complex)," said Ismail Sabri yesterday.
"The problem before was that the land where the complex is situated on was not under the Sports Ministry's name. However, the Cabinet recently agreed to transfer the title to the Sports Ministry and the re-branding of the sports complex will take place soon."
The complex houses the National Stadium, the National Hockey Stadium, the Putra Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the National Squash Centre.
The National Sports Council, National Sports Institute and Bukit Jalil Sports School are also situated there.
"We will also build a National Sports Museum as part of the re-branding exercise."
While Naim's proposal was almost immediately endorsed, he didn't stop there though.
"The Sports City of Malaysia will be at the top of the structure and for it to be successful, there must be feeder services if we are serious about a sports culture," said Naim.
What he proposed was innovative.
"We shouldn't limit ourselves to just the Sports City for we must have "satellite" centres as well.
"I am proposing for satellite sports towns and satellite sports kampung. I do not want to use the word village as this will give it a different meaning.
"We need to reach the kampung as well if we want a sports culture. This can only happen if youth are included in the committees at the kampung level.
"Only then will they be interested and sporting events can be organised at the grassroots level."
Seen in the picture above, Dato' Anthony Yeo of Genting and Datuk Naim Mohamad with Mr Maniam Manikkam from the Le Tour de Langkawi 2009 in Genting Highlands.
Dato' Anthony K S Yeoh, Senior Vice President, Public Relations and Communications of Resorts World Berhad chairing the preparatory meeting for the Stage Five finish of the 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi. Also present Ms Winnie, Ms Julia Ter and Mr Foong Chee Sam.
The rest of the preparatory committee members at the meeting. From left Mr Halim, Dato' Rosley, Chief Inspector Bulian of Bentong, Mr Khor Hai Peng, Ms Ani S Goldah, Dato' Karn Kam Peng. Mr Zul from the Pahang State Government and Mrs Kay Prakash of Resorts World Bhd.
