JOHOR BARU : Archery, cycling and weightlifting have made it to the list of sports for next year’s 25th edition of the SEA Games, scheduled to be held in Laos from Dec 13-21.
Laos, who are hosting the biennial meet for the first time, did not include the three sports when they came out with the initial list of 22 sports earlier this year.
But in the South-East Asia Games Federation (SEAGF) meeting, which concluded yesterday, Laos have agreed to include the three Olympic sports.
The other sports in the final programme are aquatics (swimming and diving), athletics, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, football, golf, judo, karate, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, muay thai, petanque, silat, fin swimming, shuttlecock kicking, volleyball (including beach volleyball), wrestling and wushu.
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) vice-president Datuk W.Y. Chin, who attended the meeting in Laos, confirmed that the three sports would be contested in next year’s SEA Games.
However, there will be only road cycling competition as Laos do not have the funds to build a velodrome for the track disciplines.
“They have agreed on 25 sports and a total of 398 events altogether,” he said from Laos yesterday.
“However, the Philippines have appealed for basketball to be included and even offered to finance the expenses. However, Laos mentioned that they do not have a basketball arena with wooden flooring.”
Chin added that a decision should be made before the year is over.
Laos have also decided to host all the 25 sports in their capital Vientiane.
The inclusion of the three Olympic sports is certainly good news for Malaysia, who have strong medal chances especially in archery.
In the Korat SEA Games last year, Malaysia had a medal haul of 68-52-95 to finish second overall behind hosts Thailand.
from:http://www.sportsmalaysia.net/2008/11/15/laos-sea-games-2009-three-new-sports/
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