PENANG, August 2015 - 120 athletes from various sports will represent Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) at the 2015 Malaysian University Staff Sports Championship (SUKUM 2015) beginning from 17 to 23 August at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam.

Head of the contingent, Tuan Hj Muhamad Mohd Hanif expressed his confidence that the strength of USM’s athletes who had trained hard would enable USM to win a medal in each category entered.

"In addition, the athletes selected for this year’s SUKUM can be described as the best as we are only participating in eight types of sports based on the achievements from the previous tournament," he said after officiating the flag presentation to the contingent at the USM Athletics Stadium here recently.

He added that although sports is a recreational activity there is no excuse for the athletes not to compete seriously.

"SUKUM can be classified as an ‘elite recreation' for besides its objective of competing for the good name of the university there are athletes competing who have had extensive experience including representing the country.

Muhamad also reminded athletes participating to always maintain self-discipline and show a high level of sportsmanship besides accepting all results positively and with an open heart.

"Hopefully our target of 8 gold medals will be attained, and I believe this is not just a false hope but one that we are capable of achieving.”

The USM contingent will participate in eight different sports, namely athletics, sepak takraw, football, table tennis, tenpin bowling, futsal, lawn bowling and cycling; competing in 12 out of the 25 categories.

Translation: Sharifah Zafirah Syed Nassir/Editing: Dr. Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah / Text: Mohamad Danial Shahri/Photo: Zamani Abdul Rahim