Pulling out of SEA Games not an option despite unconfirmed date: OCM

KUALA LUMPUR – If the Vietnam SEA Games organising committee decides to host the sporting event only in June or July next year, Malaysia will not pull out but will instead re-evaluate the size of its participation.

Although the Games’ organising committee has yet to come back with a new date, Malaysian Olympic Council (OCM) president Tan Sri Datuk Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria assured The Vibes that Malaysia will not be pulling out despite next year’s busy sporting schedule.

“As said before, we would prefer the Games to be held somewhere in April or early May, but if the dates are confirmed for June and July, Malaysia will still be participating.

“No, we will not pull out. It is not even an option,” he said.

“We will look at (our) size of participation if the dates are confirmed to be in June or July. We may send a different set of athletes as all of them are currently undergoing the same training programme.

“We all know that (the SEA Games) is a platform mainly for developing athletes. We could send in our junior athletes to take part. We will also look at the number of events we will participate in, because there are events in the SEA Games that will be overlapping with the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games,” Norza added.

As many as 40 sporting events − with 520 categories − are expected at next year’s SEA Games.

The sporting calendar for 2022 appears tight as Malaysia's athletes prepare for the Beijing Winter Games (February 4-20), Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28-August 8) and Hangzhou Asian Games (September 10-25).

“When they (Vietnam) have decided, which I believe will be soon, the SEA Games Federation will invite all member countries (of Southeast Asia) for discussion. Until then, we cannot decide on anything,” he said.

The multi-event games, scheduled to take place from November 21 to December 2 this year, were postponed by the Vietnam government after citing a rise in Covid-19 cases in the country’s main provinces.

The Vietnamese saw a rapid surge of the virus in the capital city of Hanoi as well as in 11 other cities and provinces where some of the SEA Games’ events were scheduled to be held.

The only time the biennial games has ever been cancelled, since its inaugural edition in 1959, was when Cambodia was unable to play host in 1963 due to political instability.

Aside from that, Malaysia has never missed the SEA Games since its inception. – The Vibes, September 8, 2021