Malaysia to field biggest-ever contingent at SEA Games
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will be fielding their biggestever contingent in SEA Games history as they seek to top the medal standings in August.
National Sports Council (NSC) acting director of athletes department Jefri Ngadirin said yesterday that they’re looking at fielding an estimated 925strong contingent after the final round of selection of athletes in July.
“We have more than 800 athletes under the Kita Juara programme, but not all will be selected for the SEA Games.
“There are some who are training on their own and those recommended by the association will be considered by us.
“We are looking at more than 900 athletes for the Malaysian contingent after the final selection in July.
“As hosts, we’re going to compete in every event for the first time. There will be at least one Malaysian athlete in every event,” said Jefri.
Malaysia will host the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur from July 19Aug 31, with the hopes of becoming overall champions for only the second time.
Malaysia emerged overall champions when they last hosted the SEA Games in 2001.
Then, Malaysia were represented by a 557strong contingent and did not compete in 26 out of the 391 events.
A total of 38 sports and 405 events will be contested for the KL SEA Games this time.
Despite the expectations, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja’afar admitted that it’s still too early to made a proper assessment of Malaysia’s medal prospects.
“It’s too early to gauge the gold medal target as there will be competitions before the SEA Games for most sports.
“The ranking position of the athlete may change and there could be injuries. Besides, we will only meet in March for the first round of selection of athletes based on what the national sports associations recommends to us,” he said after chairing the team managers’ meeting yesterday.
The OCM board also have agreed on Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president Huang Ying How being the chef de mission for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.