Tremendous Support For Maiden Sea Games Baton Run In Brunei - Malaysia's Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- The inaugural SEA Games Baton Run which embodies the ASEAN community spirit in conjunction with the SEA Games festival and 2017 Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games started in Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei on Sunday in spectacular fashion as more than 6,000 people turned up to support the event. During the maiden run launched by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, the baton was handed over to Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council president, Pengiran Muda Sufri Bolkiah as a symbolic sign to start the event. Sufri Bolkiah later passed the baton to local wushu exponent, Awang Mohd Sufi Shayiran Roslan, the winner of a bronze medal in wushu at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore. Awang Mohd continued the run, accompanied by 30 supporting runners. The run, involving a distance of 7.42 km, started at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium and passed through several historical monuments including the 1999 SEA Games Memorial Monument and Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. The event was organised by the Malaysian SEA Games Organising Committee (Masoc) with the cooperation of participating countries in the prelude to the biennial event. It is one of the efforts to promote the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games among the people of the participating nations and create an awareness on the festival among the people in the region. Among Brunei athletes involved in the baton run were former cyclist Awang Azmi Hadzid (cycling), Awang Kifli Hamzah (silat), Dayang Nurul Ain Md Jaafar (taekwondo), Awang Zatie Hidayat Saidi (sepak takraw), Nurul Nabilah Md Salleh (lawn bowls) and Awang Sahri Jumat (athletics). Awang Sahri, the winner of a gold medal at the 2015 ASEAN Para Games in javelin, was the runner of the last leg and handed the baton to Sufri Bolkiah who later handed over the baton to Khairy. Khairy later handed the baton to the Philippines ambassador to Brunei, Meynardo Los Banos Montealegre since the destination of the next baton run would be the Philippines on March 12. . The baton run themed 'Bangkit Bersama' (Standing Together) arrives at its final destination, Singapore, on May 13, before the Torch Run starts throughout Malaysia from May 14 to Aug 12. -- BERNAMA