Penang aims to produce champion swimmers, divers

GEORGE TOWN: Penang aims to produce champions in swimming and diving following successes in badminton and squash.
State Youth, Sports, Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Chong Eng said the State Sports Council (MSN) will work closely with associations.
She said Penang aims to improve its medal tally in the biannual Sukma Games as swimming and athletics had some 100 medals at stake.
The state swimming team, she added, did not do so well in Sarawak last year and the Perlis edition.
“We will have to put in the effort, the associations will have to pull their act together and the State MSN will back them up,” she said in a press conference yesterday after Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng opened the Relau Sports Complex.
Lim, meanwhile hoped the championship calibre swimmers and divers can be produced with the opening of the RM21.4 million complex.
The silver rated Green Building Index (GBI) complex is equipped with an Olympic sized swimming pool, a separate diving pool, 10 badminton courts and a gym among other amenities.
Lim said the construction of the complex was part of the efforts to provide capacity and the facilities to train athletes.
“Without facilities you cannot maximise capabilities,” he said adding another sports complex on the island and two more on the mainland were in the works.
The badminton courts are available for rent to the public while the pool is free to use until the Council appoints an operator in the next two months.