KUALA LUMPUR:Non-contact sports and centralised training programmes for athletes are still allowed in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya which will be under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) starting after midnight tonight (at 12.01 am).

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said individual sport activities, e-sports, non-contact sports and outdoor sports not exceeding 10 people were allowed.

The centralised training programme for athletes which was being implemented by the National Sports Council (NSC)  and State Sports Councils could be continued in a closed and controlled manner (Quarantine Based Approach) as implemented at the MSN Complex, Bukit Jalil and Keramat; Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM), Bukit Kiara and the Paralympics Sports Excellence Centre, Kampung Pandan.

However, Ismail Sabri stressed that all swimming pool activities, physical contact, combat sports and the organisations of sports or championships were not allowed during the CMCO to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘’Sport events and competitions with spectators present and sport events and competitions involving participants from abroad are not allowed. All leisure, recreational and cultural activities are not allowed.

‘’Entertainment activities including night club or pub, recreational centre, theme park, indoor playground and cinema are also not allowed,’’ he told a virtual press conference through the Facebook of the Ministry of Defence today.

Meanwhile, the Youth and Sports Ministry, via a statement, said that activities such as walking, jogging, cycling, self-aerobics and others performed in open areas were among those allowed to the public in the CMCO areas in Sabah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

‘’Sport and recreational activists including owners and operators of facilities such as football field, sports complex, badminton hall, gymnasium, swimming pool, recreational centre and others in the CMCO states and areas must comply with the directives stipulated by the National Security Council to postpone and reschedule all their respective sport and recreational activities.

‘’The operations of the sports and recreational facilities must be closed temporarily during the CMCO.

‘’In other states or districts, sports and recreational programmes can be continued by complying with the SOP currently in force. This is in order for us to together help sever the pandemic infection chain,’’ he said in a statement.

-- BERNAMA