THE organisers of the APMG 2018 today released a total of RM1.5 million to the sports partners as organising funds to run their respective sports.
APMG 2018 president Chong Eng said the gesture would allow the 22 sports partners to concentrate more freely in organising a smooth and successful competition without the need to worry about money.
“In addition to the seed fund released last month, the funds given out today will amount to a total of 80% of the overall budget for the respective sports,” Chong Eng told a gathering of sports partners at Komtar.
She said the remainder 20% of each sports partner’s budget will be released after the respective sports have submitted their final report, complete with the full accounts of expenditures.
APMG 2018 will be from Sept 7 to 15, with the opening ceremony scheduled to begin on Sept 8 at the City Stadium from 7pm. Preceding that will be an opening ceremony torch run involving about 2,000 runners from the Esplanade at 6pm to the stadium.
In less than 48 hours before the games kick off with the swimming competition at the MBPP Relau Sports Complex, Chong Eng said they are ready to play host to a multi-sports event like APMG 2018 which consists of 22 sports.
“It’s a huge challenge to pull off a Games to be proud of, especially since we’re operating on an overall budget which is much smaller than other international Games such as the SEA Games and Asian Games,” she said.
“Despite the smaller budget, I’m confident that all the extra hard work, willpower and commitment poured in by everybody connected with APMG 2018 will ensure an exciting and successful Games.
“I’m happy that we’ve surpassed the target of at least 5,000 athletes. The total number of athletes who will be competing is 5,564 participants from 64 countries.”
Story by K.H. Ong
Photos by Alvie Cheng