Eight Countries Including M'sia Reject Proposal To Postpone Sea Games To 2022 - Olympic Council Of M'sia

KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 (Bernama) -- Eight countries including Malaysia have rejected a proposal by the organisers of the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, to postpone the biennial games to May or June next year. Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the organisers were given two weeks to come up with another proposal that would satisfy all the competing countries. "Eight countries rejected the proposal, including Malaysia, two countries including Vietnam supported it, while Laos abstained," he told Bernama, Wednesday. Mohamad Norza said this after attending a meeting with the SEA Games Federation (SEAGF) which was held virtually today. He said the COVID-19 pandemic was the reason given by Vietnam to postpone the Games. On Monday, Bernama reported that Mohamad Norza did not agree to the proposal, as the country's athletes would be facing a busy schedule next year with participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics from Feb 4-20, Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28-Aug 8) and Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 10-25). The SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam is scheduled to take place from Nov 21 to Dec 2. Vietnam is hosting 520 events from 40 sports in this year’s edition. This is the second time the country will host the Games, the first being in 2003. -- BERNAMA