SEPANG, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- The government has channeled an allocation of RM1.1 million under the National Sports Incentive Scheme (SHAKAM) as a reward for Malaysian athletes who successfully won medals at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Youth and Sports Minister Dr. Mohammed Taufiq Johari said the total amount of funds serves as a form of appreciation for the sacrifices and pride gifted by the athletes to all Malaysians.
According to him, the incentive amount for gold medalists has been set at RM80,000, while an additional RM10,000 will be given if an athlete successfully breaks the games record.
“...followed by RM40,000 for silver and RM20,000 for bronze,” he said during the welcoming ceremony for the country's Glasgow 2026 heroes and heroines at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today.
Elaborating further on the SHAKAM rewards, he informed that the National Sports Council (NSC) is currently discussing increasing the monetary amount through additional funds from the corporate sector.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mohammed Taufiq also added that the success of bringing home eight gold, three silver, and five bronze medals is the result of a shift in the ministry's strategy, which now sets medal targets based on specific colours.
He emphasised that setting colour-based medal targets instills a new spirit for athletes to continuously chase gold medals and serves as an initial step for the country to achieve its first-ever Olympic gold medal in the future.
“This bold move ultimately bore fruit for us all. Although we were initially a bit apprehensive that setting colour-based targets would put pressure on the athletes, it actually provided a fresh morale boost. InsyaAllah, in future games, we will continue setting targets based on colour, specifically gold,” he said.
The decision to establish colour-based targets was made following deep discussions and studies involving sports associations, coaches, and athletes to ensure that the goal of securing gold medals could be specifically focused on.
The achievement in Glasgow is recorded as one of the country's best performances since 2010, successfully seeing the national contingent surpass its initial target of five gold medals.
Despite sending a relatively small contingent compared to previous editions, he described the victory as carrying immense meaning for all Malaysians.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's Chef de Mission (CDM) Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz, who is also the President of the Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation, explained that while gold medals were an internal aspiration for the lawn bowls squad, they were not set as official targets to avoid placing excessive pressure on the athletes.
In fact, he described the achievement of two silver and two bronze medals in Glasgow as far better compared to the performance of one silver and one bronze recorded at the Birmingham 2022 edition.
Overall, he expressed gratitude as the national contingent successfully surpassed every individual colour-based medal target through the hard work of the athletes and coaching staff.
-- BERNAMA