Olympic Council of Malaysia president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria hopes sports leaders and other VIPs will be more active in sports.
Norza, who is also Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president, was speaking after officiating and competing in the Sila Lari, Jangan Duduk Fun Run 2018 at Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur, this morning.
The former National Sports Institute chairman surprised himself by completing the 5km run in a personal best of 35 minutes.
“At first I was not sure if I wanted to run but if I want more leaders to be active, I had to set an example. I am surprised I managed to set a personal best of 35 minutes,” said Norza.
“Hopefully, by running today, more sports officials or VIPs will start to compete in such events instead of just turning up to flag off the competition.”
“This run is a good initiative by news portal Twentytwo13. It was well received by all sectors of society (with over 800 runners) and even had the backing of a few corporate companies who sent their staff to compete.
“Hopefully, it will become an annual event and grow even bigger in the years to come,” he said.
“Thank you Twentytwo13 for organising an event which promotes a fun and healthy lifestyle.”
Also present at the run was Football Association of Malaysia general secretary Stuart Ramalingam and Olympian Noraseela Khalid.
The name of the run is a play of words on what Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V, who had just before officiating the Dewan Rakyat session after the change in government, said: “Sila duduk, jangan lari”, referring to the opposition MPs who staged a walkout a day earlier.
Organised by news website Twentytwo13, the event was supported by the Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur Athletics Association.
Other supporters include 100Plus, Kuckreja & Co, Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd, Asiana.my, ONE Championship, Genesis Fortis, TrueStart Coffee and Rantau PR.
More than 40 runners went home smiling as they won lucky draw prizes which included the official Rugby World Cup 2019 balls, VIP tickets for next month’s ONE: Destiny of Champions worth RM390 each and a Philips Viva Collection All-In-One cooker worth RM590.
Twentytwo13 went live on May 22, 2018, at 10.13pm (22:13) with 13 articles. It has since been quoted by its more established colleagues – Channel News Asia, The Malaysian Insight, New Straits Times, Stadium Astro and Kwong Wah, among others.
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