I vividly recall an encounter with a religious fundamentalist I met in Pakistan who told me that he loved the professional football club Real Madrid and wishes to meet and get a personal signature of the famous football player Cristiano Ronaldo. Having been to numerous places that have been destroyed mainly by political conflicts, I always wondered if there was a way to reduce such politically instigated impacts and push more for apolitical solutions that can be used to unite and create more opportunities for people, especially youth. This encounter provided the basis for my thoughts.
I realised the lack of sporting facilities due to the lack of funding is a serious challenge and weakness in the current sport ecosystem in the world, especially in Asia. No one should give up their dreams because of a lack of community support and funds to become the next great athlete. The lack of basic sport infrastructures also hinder the true potential of sporting games and makes it exclusive to the privileged ones, but not inclusive to our society’s disadvantaged groups whose participation may elevate the standards of sporting activities to an even greater height.
After seeing numerous dreams come true from Crowdsourcing, as an avid fan of both sport and technology, I have decided to be the change that I want to see.
In 2017, I co-founded Crowdsukan, a Crowdsourcing sport platform that aims to Crowdsource for sport infrastructures and support sustainable sport solutions, focusing on good health (SGD 3) with digital innovation means (SDG 9) to create sustainable communities (SDG 11). I’m determined to make Crowdsukan an open and transparent platform to play a big part in how we can make people’s dreams and hopes come true in sport, with the backing and power by the people themselves, starting from Malaysia.When more people have better access to more possibilities in sport, more people will bond together, particularly in our diverse global societies where cultural differences can often invite conflicts.
Sport acts as an apolitical therapy to help bridge these differences and promote common interests with good sporting ethics and values to foster mutual respect. Moving forward, I dream to continuously leverage on the power of internet, communities and sport to significantly impact the dreams of many others in sport. Creating opportunities and bridging unity are absolutely crucial in safeguarding humanity, and my dream is to start from sport.