PUTRAJAYA: The 2024 Budget allocation for the Youth and Sports Ministry is a "game changer" for the sports industry and to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said the tax exemption that was announced for sports equipment and training would encourage a change in lifestyle.
"This is good for parents who invest and save money to encourage their children to be active and I think when we encourage this investment from parents, the sports industry would benefit from the renumeration for training children.
"This would also help to change towards a healthy lifestyle. When children like being active in sports, they would continue to do so until they grow older.
"This would also help the ministry to curb with the rising cost of training," she said during the National Sports Day press conference, here, today.
She added that the ministry would engage in stakeholders consultation to execute the initiatives in the newly announced budgets including for para athletes, Road To Gold and Rakan Muda among others.
"A lot of programmes that we have launched including the swimming class for B40 children, sports for senior citizens and camping will be continued and improved next year. We are aiming to plan more outdoor activities," she said.
Hannah said the ministry is also expecting more international tournaments to be held in Malaysia through the RM50 million allocations for the sports matching grant.
"We have cut off on application (procedures) and bureaucracy so we don't think it'll be a problem for the crowd that will come in.
"We would focus more on high-performance tournaments so that our athletes can benefit from it.
"This year, there is more community (tournaments) because we don't have time to get the sanction from international bodies," she said adding that the government would also focus on improving infrastructures to be in tandem with talent development.
National Sports Day is an annual event celebrated on the second Saturday of October to promote sports among the community through an active and healthy lifestyle.
It is also aimed at boosting public participation in sports, enhancing national unity, and driving economic development through the sports and recreation industry.
Around 4.5 million participants nationwide is expected to join in the variety of offerings in today's Sport's Day.