KUALA LUMPUR, 18 July – Eight national sports associations have appealed to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and more are expected to follow suit for inclusion in next year’s SEA Games in Vietnam.
With this in mind, OCM supremo, Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria has asked secretary general, Datuk Mohd. Nazifuddin Najib to get a full list before Malaysia files an appeal for the 31st edition of the biennial games scheduled to be held in Vietnam from Nov 21-Dec 2021.
The eight sports that have appealed are cricket, sailing, netball, lawn bowls, indoor hockey, squash, 7 aside rugby and sambo (martial art).
Malaysia played host to the SEA Games in 2017 while the Philippines hosted the 30th edition last year.
After finishing overall champions in 2017, Malaysia could only manage a fifth-place overall in the Philippines.
In the 2017 Games, the Malaysians took the overall title with 145 gold, 92 silver, and 86 bronze.
The Philippines were overall champions last year with a medal tally of 149 gold, 117 silver, and 121 bronze – ahead of second-placed Vietnam (98-85-105), third-placed Thailand (92-103, 123), Indonesia third with figures of 72-84-111 against fifth placed Malaysia (55-46-68).
Norza, who is also the president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), expects another tough run in Vietnam.
He expects a tough run against the might of the Thais, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Norza wants Malaysia to expose more young talent in the regional games as an effort to prepare them for bigger meets like the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
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