BATU PAHAT: A colourful cultural performance at the Batu Pahat Stadium last Friday, kicked off the Sixth Johor Games.
The opening ceremony began with the martial arts performance of silat and playing of Kotekan - the Javaness interlocking parts.
More than 1,700 sports delegates with flags of participating districts then paraded to the stadium.
Martial art demo: A silat and dance performance taking place simultaneously at the event. The games, ranging from athletics, ping pong to sepak takraw was held in Batu Pahat, Yong Peng and Ayer Hitam.
Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman described it as the largest Johor Games so far.
He said the games, involving 10 districts, was a platform for healthy competition and for talent search in sports.
“We are working to further developing sports in the state and to encourage more participation from youths,” he said in his opening speech.
Abdul Ghani hoped the arena of sports could be expanded to cover more people and greater involvement.
Besides, sports carnivals and state level competitions, he suggested to have sports leagues and competitions among sports clubs at the district level, every year.
“Through this, we will see another level of talent search who will represent the state to national or international levels besides making the state a livelier place with various healthy activities,” he said.
Abdul Ghani said economic development was important, but health and sports development must not be left behind.
The games, which ended on Sunday, saw athletes taking part in 11 events.
Johor Baru was named the champions, winning 26 gold medals, 22 silver medals and 28 bronze medals.
The Muar district won second place bagging 22 gold medals, 24 silver medals and 21 bronze medals.
Third place went to the Kluang district with 10 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 17 bronze medals.
Batu Pahat, host of the games, came in fifth.
Segamat will host the Johor Games 2012 next year.
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