“Unearthing next-gen national athletes” – M’sians Praise Hannah Yeoh For Bringing Sports to Malls

Previously, we shared how Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh proposed for shopping centres and malls in the country to have a designated area for Malaysians to exercise and engage in sporting activities.

As a refresher, Hannah said that her Ministry will continue to collaborate with shopping centres to create a safe leisure and sports area for all layers of society, including youth and senior citizens. Furthermore, she stressed that areas such as this in malls can promote sports culture to visitors and encourage them to try out new sports.

High Jump competition at 1 Utama Shopping Centre

Well, nothing exemplifies it better than the recent “Leap to The Stars” High Jump Challenge 2024 held at 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

An under-16 boys competition for the sport of High Jump organised by the Shah Alam Sports Club in collaboration with 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Hannah lauded it as the perfect example of “bringing sports to shopping malls”. 

The Youth and Sports Minister attended the competition that took place inside the mall and spoke personally to the contestants. Taking to her official X (formerly Twitter) account, Hannah asserted,

“Sports inside malls. Bringing sports to shopping malls. Children will watch and be inspired to try. “Leap to The Star” High Jump Challenge 2024 at 1 Utama Shopping Centre for under 16 Boys category.”

You can watch the video here:

@hannahyeohmp Lompat tinggi di mall. Inspiring shopping crowd #Under16 #HighJump #LompatTinggi #trackandfield #Olahraga #1utama #hanayo #fypage #fyp ♬ Rewrite The Stars – James Arthur & Anne-Marie

RM30,000 fund allocated to the organisers to continue their efforts

Accordingly, Hannah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Segambut, touted such events to attract the interest of the younger generations to become High Jump athletes in the future.

Moreover, as reported by BERNAMA, the Youth and Sports Minister announced that her Ministry has allocated RM30,000 to the organisers to continue its efforts to unearth new High Jump talents in the country. 

Many Malaysians laud bringing sports to shopping malls

In the comments section of Hannah’s post on various social media platforms, Malaysians are largely supportive of such efforts and praised the Youth and Sports Ministry for their out-of-the-box approach to attracting youths to become future athletes. 

On X, Malaysians congratulated Hannah for her good job and said that such an initiative could ‘resurrect’ old malls with not many visitors.

Besides that, another commenter said that bringing sports to shopping malls is a brilliant idea for motivating youngsters to be a sportsman.

Meanwhile, on TikTok, Hannah’s post was also filled with positive comments from Malaysians praising the Youth and Sports Minister’s going on the ground to support the initiative.

One commenter suggested for the Ministry to add more suitable events as well such as Takraw and Tug of War. Another commenter echoed the same sentiment, urging for this to be done for indoor games too such as Chess, Congkak and Carrom.

So, what do you guys think of Hannah’s proposal to bring sports to shopping malls in our country? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: Hannah Yeoh Waits at KLIA Until 5am to Personally Congratulate M’sian Hockey Team on World Cup 5s Success