THE Asia Pacific Masters Games (APMG) 2018 brought an estimated RM27 million in-flow into the Penang economy and contributed RM50 million and RM64 million to the GDP of Penang and Malaysia respectively.
APMG 2018 president Chong Eng, who is also a state executive councillor, said this was based on an independent survey conducted by Penang Institute.
“The return on the state government’s investment is a massive 616.1%,” Chong Eng told a press conference in Komtar today to share the success story of hosting the APMG.
“APMG obtained RM4.5 million from the Penang state government and collected approximately RM2 million of registration fees and RM500,000 sponsorship in cash.
“We managed to cover all expenses with a marginal profit. This would not be possible without many sponsors and partners that contributed in kind and services which amount to approximately RM3 million.”
Also present were Penang APMG board director Datuk Danny Goon, chief executive officer Linda Geh, secretary Sawarn Kaur, publicity & media director Loganath Velloo, marketing & promotion director Chloe Teng and sports coordinator Nicholas Tan.
Chong Eng added that through organising the APMG, approximately RM2.2 million of sports equipment was acquired for Penang.
The equipment included the new timing system for Relau Swimming Complex, a resurfaced running track at City Stadium, a new certified mountain bike trail in Relau, a mobile basketball court with scoring system, mats for pencak silat, target butts for archery and training balls for several sports like football and volleyball.
Most of the sports associations involved in APMG were able to obtain profit from the allocated operational funds.
“We’re proud that our sports partners, with good planning and governance, are able to save up to RM20,000 which will be utilised as development funds.
“Many local participants never had the chance to take part in an international sports competition in their entire life. For them, this was once in a lifetime opportunity and something to tick off their bucket list,” she said.
“There are plenty of inspiring stories, like former cancer patients making a comeback, which make us proud that we could positively change lives and create a healthy society by bringing the Masters Games to Penang. The most important message to everyone is that we must allocate time to exercise.”
The APMG 2018, held throughout Penang from Sept 7-15, attracted 5,601 participants (4,073 male and 1,528 female) from 64 countries. Of this number, 42 were over 80 years old.
A total of 3,328 participants (59.4%) were Malaysians with 1,796 from Penang and 1,532 from the rest of Malaysia. There were 2,273 international participants (40.6%), with India (385), Australia (296), Japan (240) and China (179) having the largest representations.
It was the first time the Penang state government had hosted such a huge international multi-sport event. Despite given 21 months to prepare for it, the state not only succeeded in putting on a good show but also hit the target of attracting 5,000 athletes.
Chong Eng thanked the sports partners, technical officials, medic team, volunteers, agency ‘angkat’, councillors, and members of all the departments in Penang Island City Council (MBPP).
In addition, she also commended the Olympic Council of Malaysia, the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MCEB), Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh and his ministry, Youth and Sports Deputy Minister Steven Sim and his ministry, Penang State Sports Council, Penang Global Tourism for supporting the event.
She praised MBPP for organising and coordinating the APMG Torch Run throughout Malaysia. Mooted by MBPP mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang, who is also the president of the Malaysian Association of Local Authorities, the Torch Run covered 3,908km and proved to be very successful.
For their achievements, the Malaysian Book of Records awarded APMG 2018 with two records – as the first ever hosts of the Asia Pacific Masters Games and for being the first to organise a nationwide torch run for the Masters Games.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Law Suun Ting