Safrushahar Yusoff used the word ‘havoc’ repeatedly, but he was not referring to Joe Flizzow’s number.
Instead, the organising chairman of the National Sports Council Women’s Sports Carnival used the word to describe the three-day event, which started this morning, in hopes of creating enough buzz for more women to be a part of Malaysia’s sporting ecosystem.
The Women’s Sports Carnival is not new. It was first held during Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said’s tenure as Youth and Sports minister. She had been a vocal champion of women in sports.
Azalina was honoured by the International Olympic Committee in 2008, when she was awarded the World Women and Sport Trophy for boosting the number of women participation in sports in Malaysia during her tenure in office.
Over a decade later, the attention is once again on women playing an active role in sports.
Safrushahar is determined to make sure that this carnival does not turn into another ‘one-off thing’, just to tick the right boxes.
“We started this carnival this morning with four sports (football, hockey, netball, and rugby). It’s only for three days, actually, two-and-a-half days to be exact, but it’s not solely about the athletes and their performances,” said Safrushahar, who was tasked with overseeing the Talent and Women’s Development department in the NSC in March.
“This carnival needs to be seen in a bigger context. The initiative is to create more competitions, not only for women athletes, but also to get more women involved as coaches, technical officials, and administrators.”
This year’s carnival sees the participation of some 700-odd women nationwide, competing at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) and Universiti Putra Malaysia.
“We went with four sports this time around because we have programmes related to the sports, so it’s easier to get the teams. Starting small was intentional, as we can then look at what needs to be done, and ensure that it could be carried out with minimal issues.
“Of course, the game plan is to increase the number of sports. We need to create havoc, to get more women and girls involved across all sections.
“If you ask me, this should be an annual affair,” he added.
Olympian Farah Ann Abdul Hadi is scheduled to meet the participants on Wednesday (at Uniten, at 3pm) in a sharing session. The session involving the decorated ex-national gymnast will be moderated by former bowler, Datuk Shalin Zulkifli.
“They have been invited to share their experiences, their trials and tribulations, of becoming champion athletes. The participants will then be hosted at a dinner, where the award ceremony will take place.
Safrushahar agreed that the job of encouraging more women and girls to take part in sports and creating more competitions for them was not the task of the NSC’s alone.
“Other stakeholders, especially the corporate sector, should also consider organising such initiatives. Or, they could partner with NSC and we can create a bigger and more memorable carnival with the main goal of getting more girls and women involved in sports,” he added.
Main image: National Sports Council
