Closing ceremony of SEA games on Aug 30
PUTRAJAYA: The closing ceremony of the 29th SEA Games has been brought forward by one day to Aug 30 in respect of Aidiladha which falls on Sept 1.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the deci sion was made by the Malaysian SEA Games Organising Committee ( MASOC) which held a meeting yesterday.
Originally, the SEA Games was scheduled from Aug 19 to 31, with the closing ceremony to be held in conjunction with 60th National Day celebration.
“We took this decision out of respect for Wukuf Day and the eve of Aidiladha which falls on Aug 31. This will involve some changes to events scheduled to be held on Aug 30 and 31, as the games will end a day early.
“It does not pose a big problem for us because we have one day buffer in the original schedule. This was announced by the prime minister,” he told reporters after chairing the meeting at his ministry.
With this change, the Malaysian SEA Games will last for 12 days just like the games hosted by Myanmar ( 2013) and Singapore (2015).
The schedule change will be done by the Technical Committee chaired by Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar before announced on the games official website.
Meanwhile, Olympic Council of Malaysia ( OCM) secretarygeneral Datuk Low Beng Choo said the match schedule modifications will be made after discussion with the broadcasters and sports associations.
“All events must end by noon Aug 30 to enable the athletes and officials to be ready for the closing ceremony. Events scheduled on Aug 31 will held one day earlier, while those on Aug 30 will be brought forward accordingly.”
The original schedule on Aug 30 had diving, ice skating and weightlifting while Aug 31 had badminton, cricket, track cycling, polo, football, futsal, field hockey, ice skating, muay, sepak takraw, squash, taekwondo, water skiing, and weightlifting. — Bernama