His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah (3rd R), the president of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BNOC), during yesterday's Asian Games Fun Run. BT/Yusri Adanan
Schoolchildren participating in yesterday's Asian Games Fun Run in the capital. BT/Yusri Adanan
A total of 780 participants took part in the 3km Asian Games Fun Run which started at the Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar 'Ali Saifuddien in the heart of the capital before ending at the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB) Shopping Complex yesterday.
His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah, the president of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BNOC) officiated the start and also took part in the run.
YAM Pg Muda ' Abdul 'Aleem also took part in the event that was held to encourage and boost enthusiasm amongst people across Asia for the upcoming 17th Asian Games which will be held in Incheon, South Korea, from Sept 19-Oct 4.
According to Olympic Council Asia (OCA) representative Jeremy Brett Walker, 26 countries in Asia have held similar events in conjunction with the Asian Games.
"It's a fantastic opportunity to gain team spirit, communicate and to bond with each other," Walker said during his speech to the participants.
"The reason why we are having the run is because the Asian Games are later this year, so again, I hope you all watch this on television and really support the athletes from Brunei.
"Hopefully the Asian Games might inspire you to take up a new sport that maybe you have not seen before, and maybe in the future you can represent Brunei in the next tournament in 2019," added Walker.
The 2019 Asian Games host nation is yet to be decided after Vietnam stepped down, with Indonesia the most likely country to take over.
Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee representative Lee Ilhee ensured the crowd during his speech that they are planning to hold the best Games ever this year.
"Our committee is exerting their upmost effort to stage the most successful Asian Games ever," said Ilhee.
"One of our objectives is to create the Games. where all participating nations can share the joy of a victory.
"Looking at your active involvement and great passion, I am sure Brunei will achieve their best results ever in Incheon and bring great joy and pride home," added Ilhee.
Following the race was an interactive corner for anti-doping set up by the Education and Outreach section of the Brunei Darussalam Anti-Doping Committee.
Head of the Education and Outreach division, Sukardi Kaderi shared with the media the importance of raising awareness of anti-doping.
"What we're doing here is (educating) the athlete as well as the public about what is anti-doping and what are the dangers of doping," explained Sukardi.
"Here they can try play quizes where they will try to answer the questions, and no matter if it's right or wrong, it will show the correct answer.
"We hope from this we can reach out to more athletes and the public to make them aware.
"We will try to do this in every sport event with the help of the organisers, so we hope that in the future they will bring us in to their tournaments so we can raise awareness (anti-doping).
"Anti-doping is now a very big issue in Brunei, and we don't want our athletes to get banned in the future - so this is part of our education and awareness programme for them," added Sukardi.
Sukardi also advised athletes not to use unknown supplements since "you never know what's truly in them".
