Malaysia allots $28.2m to win 2001 SEA Games

Malaysia allots $28.2m to win 2001 SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia has set aside 107 million ringgit (US$28.2 million) under an athlete training program to dislodge Indonesia as the overall champion in the 2001 SEA Games, reports said Sunday.

The program will start next month to prepare athletes in 41 sports for the 2001 Games which Malaysia will host, Youth and Sports Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying by The Sunday Star.

Of the total, 35 million ringgit is for athletes' allowances, 11 million for foreign coaches, seven million for local coaches, nine million for equipment and the rest for competitions in the run-up to the Games.

Malaysia has never emerged as overall champion in the Southeast Asian Games since its inception in 1965. In the 1997 Games in Jakarta, Indonesia won 193 gold medals, Thailand took 83 golds while Malaysia was a distant third with 55.

"I think it is time for Malaysia to become the overall champion in the Games especially since we are the hosts. We expect to win 36 percent of the medals at stake," Muhyiddin said.

"We want a total of 45 foreign coaches to conduct the whole program. We currently have 26 and we will get 19 more."

The National Sports Council and the Olympic Council of Malaysia are to form a joint committee to finalize the number of sports for the Games.

"In the final phase of training prior to the Games, we will drop some of the 41 sports and will only retain 500 to 600 athletes out of the 950 identified now," he added.

Games host has the privilege of deciding on the number and the type of sports. The 1997 Games in Jakarta featured 37 sports but Brunei Darussalam only picked 21 events for the coming 1999 Games.

The New Sunday Times reported that Malaysia was likely to leave out events that Indonesia has excelled in, with the exception of combative sports.