KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has urged all associations as well as bodybuilding clubs to empower and intensify anti-doping education to prevent the use of banned substances in the sports fraternity, particularly at the amateur level.

Yeoh, who attended the Mr Enrich 2024 Championships here today, said she was relieved to find out that the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) is monitoring the competition and providing information on anti-doping education.

"I’ve asked bodybuilding clubs to hold doping awareness programmes together with Adamas so that we can have more (anti-doping) education for our athletes.

"I understand that 30 per cent of the participants at this tournament are newcomers and it will be a waste if we do not educate them about doping through ADAMAS. This is also one way for us to move forward towards safe sports,” she said.

Last month, Adamas announced that an athlete competing at the 53rd National-Level Bodybuilding Championships in Johor Bahru on Aug 28 tested positive for a banned substance.

Meanwhile, Yeoh was pleased to learn that the Mr Enrich 2024 Championships attracted 527 participants, thus earning it a place in the Malaysia Book of Records.

She also hailed the championships for introducing a category involving athletes from uniformed bodies.

"This time they have created a category for uniformed bodies like the firefighters, police and Customs to compete in.

"This is a good thing because we previously only saw them performing on trucks during the National Day parade. Actually, we have many (bodybuilding) talent,” she said. — Bernama