Saturday, September 5, 2009

National exponents can still make Laos SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR: Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will decide whether or not to send a taekwondo team to the Laos SEA Games after the Ad-hoc Committee of Malaysian Taekwondo Association (MTA) makes its selection of the exponents. OCM honorary-secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said he was informed that MTA’s Ad-hoc Committee would hold a selection session on August 17. “OCM has not decided on this and will only arrive at a decision after the selection session,” he said when contacted by Bernama here yesterday.

Bernama had reported earlier that OCM had decided not to send a taekwondo team to the Laos SEA Games as Malaysia did not have a legitimate governing body for the sport after MTA was de-registered on July 5, 2007 by the Sports Commissioner. Meanwhile, Nur Ekmal Buhary, the former deputy president of MTA, said this development augured well for the national exponents who had not been competing in any international competitions since the Beijing Olympics of 2008.

Malaysia has confirmed participation in 20 of the 25 sports in the Laos SEA Games, namely aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, billiards & snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karate-do, pencak silat, petanque, sepak takraw, shooting, table-tennis, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting and wushu.
— Bernama