Masoc want countries to submit para athletes’ names early

KUALA LUMPUR: All 11 countries participating in the Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games this year have until July to submit their athletes’ names.

Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games Organising Committee (Masoc) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong said the countries must submit the names early to avoid any last-minute cancellation of events.

Zolkples said that 16 sports, comprising 883 events, will be held at the KL Asean Para Games from Sept 17-23.

“Organising the Asean Para Games is different to that of the SEA Games.

“Most of the athletes enrolled for the SEA Games will take part, but for the Asean Para Games, we will only know how many events will be contested after receiving the names of the athletes,” he said after opening a seminar for the 2017 Asean Para Games chef de missions at a hotel here yesterday.

Masoc have maintained that each event must have a minimum of four participating countries.

Zolkples explained that the rationale of having the Asean Para Games two weeks after the conclusion of the SEA Games this year was to keep up the sporting momentum.

“Organising both these events is no easy task, but we want to ensure both received the same recognition. This is also in contrast to other countries previously, where they took six months (after the SEA Games) to organise the Asean Para Games,” he said.

The 16 events to be contested in this year’s KL Asean Para Games are archery, athletics, badminton, boccia, chess, cycling, five-a-side football, seven-a-side football, goalball, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, bowling, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball. — Bernama