Sports Instill Fitness, Platform To Boost Ties - Minister

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- The National Sports Day, which will be held annually, will enable the implementation of a healthy lifestyle and also boost communal ties. Communications and Multimedia Minister Dr Salleh Said Keruak said sports activities would turn out healthy bodies to assist in national development. "I hope sports activities will become our lifestyle. "We also need time for recreation and sports when we are serving in the government. We can carry out big and challenging tasks to develop institutions and the nation if we are healthy," he said. Salleh said this to reporters after launching the ministry-level Zumba and People's Sports Carnival programme in conjunction with National Sports Day here Saturday. He also hoped the event would be held in the years to come and become a medium of awareness for the personnel of the ministry specifically, and Malaysians on the importance of sports, and to turn Malaysia into a sporting nation. Earlier, Salleh struck a gong three times and joined more than 1,000 ministry staff and family members in enlivening the celebration with poco-poco and zumba exercises headed by a group of facilitators from the Malaysian Information Department. Also present were the ministry's secretary-general Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) general manager Zulkefli Salleh and Bernama Editor-in-Chief Zakaria Abdul Wahab. Subsequently, Salleh visited exhibition tents set up by the ministry's departments and agencies including Bernama and handed over appreciation plaques to their representatives. To enliven the carnival, he also participated in a telematch, throwing balloons filled with water, without breaking them, with Zulkefli and other senior officers of the ministry. In the meantime, the Health Ministry also organised the 10,000 steps programme on its grounds in conjunction with the National Sports Day, which was announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak last year. -- BERNAMA