KUALA LUMPUR – The 2022 Hanoi SEA Games will serve as a benchmark for upcoming international competitions including the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and Hangzhou Asian Games this year.
Speaking to The Vibes, Malaysia’s chef de mission to the SEA Games, Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad said the current contingent is selected based on their performances over the last few years.
“Their key performance indicator (KPI) is based on their performances in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
“However, in those years we did not have any major competitions, and not all the athletes had the opportunity to compete on an international stage,” he said.
Nur Azmi, who is also Malaysian Karate Federation (Makaf) secretary-general, said although Malaysia did not set a definitive target for the upcoming SEA Games, it will be used as a performance yardstick to determine if the athletes will be placed into Category A for future international games.
“This will be their KPI that we will use from now. If they want to be in Category A for future competitions, they will have to show results in Hanoi.
“We won’t take the previous years’ KPI after this. If they perform well now, we will be sending them for the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia,” Nur Azmi added.
For the approaching SEA Games, Malaysia is sending 225 athletes under Category A (costs are fully borne), and 379 under Category B (costs to be refunded if a medal is won).
Malaysia will also be sending a total of 280 team officials with the athletes, with 158 of them under Category A and 122 for Category B.
Nur Azmi says the large number of officials is nothing out of the ordinary as the officials representing each sport varies.
“Some sport may have two coaches, some even three, it is not unusual.
“For Category A the government bears the cost, but for Category B the cost is paid by the respective associations.
“I assume some may send more officials as they want to support each other, and that is good,” he added.
Nur Azmi also said that he just returned from a trip to Hanoi in preparation of the SEA Games.
“We have a little over a month until the games begin, and they (Hanoi) currently are preparing a few more stadiums that will play host to events.
“They are almost ready.”
The 2022 Hanoi SEA Games is set to start on May 12 and will end on May 23. – The Vibes, March 27, 2022.
