The bubbly 66-year-old took time to fan the fire among the SEA Games-bound athletes at the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex.
Among the athletes who were there included those from women’s football, archery, athletics, aquatics and weightlifting.
“I’m happy to see the commitment shown by our athletes in the final phase of training before the Games,” said Amiruddin, who completed his series of visit in the morning at the rain-soaked athletics track at Bukit Jalil.
“I encouraged the athletes to break barriers so that we can hear the national anthem many times in various stadiums in Myanmar. For now, I’m pleased that preparation is going on smoothly,” added Amiruddin, who is also the president of the Malaysia Rugby Union (MRU).
Rugby, however, is not one of the 33 sports contested in Myanmar.
A total of 556 Malaysian athletes will take part in swimming, athletics, archery, badminton, basketball, snooker and billiards, boxing, canoe, cycling, equestrian, football (including futsal), golf, hockey, judo, karate, rowing, sepaktakraw (chinlone), sailing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, wushu, bodybuilding, chess, muay, pencak silat, weightlifting and petanque.
Malaysia have set a modest target of 40 gold medals.
In the 2011 Games in Indonesia, Malaysia won 59 golds, 50 silvers and 82 bronzes to finish fourth overall and it was the country’s best achievement in SEA Games since winning 111 gold medals as the hosts in 2001 in KL.
thestar.com.my
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