Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar has urged local athletes to buck up and ensure that the country becomes the overall champions of the 2017 SEA Games.
Various plans have been put in place to boost the performance of national athletes, including brand new sport programs as well as improved training facilities. And as far as Khairy is concerned, there needs to be a fair trade-off.
“We have a budget of RM145 million for the SEA Games and RM75 million for the podium program and this is already a lot. I hope the athletes return the favour by giving their best during the tournament,” he told Harian Metro.
“Our target is clear. We want to be the overall champions, it’s our KPI. If we finish second, then we have definitely failed. I don’t want to hear excuses anymore.
“Thailand will be our main challenger. I don’t care how many gold medals we need to collect. What’s important is, we need to be overall champions. We have to be better than Thailand,” he added.
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