2017 Sea Games Venues To Be Revealed By March - OCM President

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 (Bernama) -- The venues for the 2017 SEA Games, for which Malaysia is host, is expected to be known by March next year, said Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja'afar. He said currently the venue selection was still at discussion stage. "The venues are not decided yet. The decision is not made yet until next March (next year) which is 18 months before the SEA Games," he told reporters at the 175th OCM Council Meeting at Wisma OCM here Saturday. Even though at the moment nothing was confirmed, he said the venue would be mainly in Kuala Lumpur while Terengganu could be used for the equestrian event, sailing in Langkawi Island and certain events in Sabah and Sarawak. He said the national sports associations needed to ensure their sports could win more gold medals in the upcoming SEA Games to surpass the contingent's achievement in the 2001 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. "We are still finalising the sports and the sports associations still have the opportunity to look up to their programme for athletes. However they must really be sure of their gold medal chances in the next SEA Games. Meanwhile, Tunku Imran said the 27th Myanmar SEA Games organising committee had adjusted the official result of the bronze medal for the men's 4x100m medley to be granted to Malaysian swimmers comprising Tern Jian Han, Shaun Yap, Daniel Bego and Lim Ching Hwang. The decision was made following the withdrawal of the gold medal from Indonesia after its athletes were tested positive for doping. The gold and silver medals were given to Singapore and Thailand respectively. With the latest adjustment, the official medal tally for the Malaysian contingent to the 27th SEA Games are 43 gold, 38 silver and 78 bronze medals with a total of 159 medals. -- BERNAMA