Malaysia will closely examine performance at SEA Games
Malaysia will closely examine performance at SEA Games
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia emerged victorious from the Southeast Asian Games for the first time in their 42-year history, and the government is demanding to know why.
Sports Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Thursday he wants a report on his desk by the end of the month from every national sporting association giving a detailed "post-mortem" of their athletes' performance.
"All sports associations must give reasons for their success or lack of success," Hishammuddin was reported as saying by the Bernama national news agency.
The reports will be used to decide which sports will get special funding to prepare for the upcoming Asian and Commonwealth Games, he said.
While Southeast Asia has some world-class athletes in a few sports such as badminton and boxing, the region has generally lagged behind the rest of the world at major international meets.
Top Malaysian officials complained during the SEA Games that they had failed to produce top-level athletes because member countries insisted on including obscure sports - played by few countries but which their athletes were good at - to increase their chances of winning medals.
In addition to conventional sports such as athletics, swimming and gymnastics, the SEA Games program included billiards, four kinds of martial arts and three kinds of bowling.
Numerous regional records were set at the games, but none were even close to Asian or world records.
When the Games ended Monday, Malaysia finished with 111 gold medals, ahead of Thailand (103) and Indonesia (72) - the two countries which have previously dominated the competition.
Malaysia flopped in track and field, but did well in gymnastics, diving and synchronized swimming, and martial arts.
Hishammuddin said sports associations which did well at the SEA Games would receive special payments on top of the 5,000 ringgit (US$1,315) paid to each athlete for winning gold. The government expects to hand out more than 500,000 ringgit ($ 131,000).
He also announced Cabinet approval for a new sports program aimed at developing more Asian- and world-class athletes from Malaysia.