Brunei ready for 1999 SEA Games

Brunei ready for 1999 SEA Games

JAKARTA (AP): After years of swelling ever bigger, the Southeast Asia Games are likely to be scaled back considerably when tiny Brunei plays host in 1999.

Brunei sports official Adina Othman said the next SEA Games are likely to have between 16 and 20 sports, compared with the 34-sport extravaganza put on this year by Indonesia.

"We expect the games to be much smaller," she said.

Othman refused to comment on which sports will be cut, saying the decision has not yet been made. She said she hopes the sport list will be completed this year, however.

Brunei, a tiny oil-rich country on the northern coast of Borneo, was confirmed as the biennial SEA Games next host earlier this week.

The games will be the first Brunei has hosted, though it has sent teams to the SEA Games since 1977, when Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the host. The Southeast Asia Games were first held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1959.

With a population of less than 300,000, it is not surprising Brunei does not plan to hold as big a games as this year's, which feature 4,300 athletes competing in a record 34 sports.

Othman said facilities for the games are not expected to be a problem. Instead, finding places to put everyone may be difficult.

"The accommodations are the difficult thing," she said.

She said Brunei has a committee here to study Indonesia's management of the games for possible improvements. Organizers have been slammed for lax security at several venues and for the poor condition of many of the sports facilities.

"We will study their report when it is completed," she said of the committee.

Brunei has a 326-member team here for the current games, which closes today, and has won two silvers and four bronze medals. As of yesterday evening, however, it had yet to win a gold.

There are 10 nations taking part in this year's games.