JOHOR BAHRU: Forty Johor athletes have been rewarded with incentives totalling RM163,000 by the state government for winning medals at the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games recently.
Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said the incentives were a gesture of recognition from the state government for the hard work the athletes have put in to bring glory to the state and nation.
“In fact, we will look into the possibility to increase the incentives so that the athletes will be more motivated,” he said when speaking at the presentation of Johor Sports Victory Incentive for the 2021 SEA Games and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games here last night.
At the SEA Games, 26 Johor athletes contributed three golds, seven silvers and 15 bronze medals. Gold medalists received RM4,000 each, while silver medalists each received RM2,000, and bronze, RM1,500.
For the Commonwealth Games, six Johor athletes won two golds, two silvers and two bronzes with an incentive for winning a gold medal being RM16,000, silver RM12,000 and bronze RM8,000 and an additional RM2,000 as a participation incentive.
Among the athletes who received the incentives were badminton ace Ng Tze Yong who bagged a total of RM28,000 after winning one gold and one silver through the individual and team events at the Commonwealth Games.
Other recipients were weightlifter Mohamad Aniq Kasdan who received RM18,000 for winning the country’s first gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus who won bronze in the keirin event and received RM10,000. – Bernama