By: Amin Mustafha
SERDANG, March 24: About 3,500 participants, including those from India and Indonesia, joined the two-day Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Sports Carnival 2019 here.
Seven events were contested in the UPM sports carnival organised by the Sports Centre, namely, Football 9’s (Under 8, 10 and 12 years), Open Dodgeball, Amateur Darts (Double & Single), Sepak Takraw (Open and New Talent), Novice Ping Pong, E-Sports (FIFA) and Petanque.
The Indian Academy Football Team participated in all three categories of football events while the Indonesian team took part in Sepak Takraw.
The sports carnival was officiated by UPM Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni), Prof. Dr. Roslan Sulaiman. This was the fifth time the sports event was organised since its debut in 2015.
Having a large number of athletes locally and internationally is an achievement that the organiser is proud of, particularly when the total number of team participated in the contested events reached the target set.
Head of UPM Sports Centre, Dr. Hanafiah Ayub, said that UPM was always ready to organise various sporting events both at the national and international levels as it opened up opportunity for the community to enjoy and take part in competitive sports competitions at one of the best universities in Malaysia.
He added that sporting events could also open up the minds of the public on the benefits of taking parts in sports, and the involvement of the community would enhance the spirit of sportsmanship and uplift sport events in the country.
"The encouraging participation seen is also due to UPM’s reputation of being an institution capable of providing complete, safe and conducive sports facilities for national or international sporting events," he said.
Also held were archery clinic and a roadshow on E-Sports by Yesports Asia company. The archery clinic managed to attract the attention of the public, especially UPM students who wish to learn more about techniques in archery.
The roadshow also opened a new chapter in digital sports in UPM through the collaboration made with Yesport Asia, a Hong Kong-based company. UPM Sports Centre also hopes to polish its plans in hosting large-scale digital sports programmes in the future. - UPM
