James Kon
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) will further strengthen cooperation with the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BDNOC) and national sports associations to prepare athletes for regional and international sports events.
This was said by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi bin Haji Mohamad during a post mortem meeting for the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) 2021 yesterday.
His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah, the President of BDNOC was present at the meeting to have a closer look at national swimmer Nur Haziq bin Samil @ Ismail’s performance in the international meet hosted in Konya, Turkey from August 9-18.
The minister agreed with the suggestion to have meetings with members of the national athlete assessment and selection committee and BDNOC to exchange ideas to improve the quality of athletes’ performance in the Sultanate.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi congratulated the national swimmer for his participation in the meet. Despite not winning medals, the competition serves as a motivation to double efforts to improve his performance in upcoming competitions.
The minister said, “Nur Haziq is still young and has the time and opportunity to improve through consistent training.”
The national swimmer finished last in Heat 1 of 1500-metre freestyle with the time of 18:07.50 and last in Heat 2 of 400-metre freestyle with the time of 4:27.93.
Chef de Mission of Brunei contingent to ISG 2021 Umi Khaltum binti Haji Abdul Karim presented several proposals for improvements including: arriving four days before the opening ceremony to adapt to the competition venue and acclimatisation; review of budget for contingent; matching athlete’s strengths to events based on recommendation from national coach and association; a visit to Nur Haziq’s training centre in Phuket, Thailand to better understand athlete’s progress; and sending the best athletes to international meets.
