SEA GAMES 2025: Malaysia to submit an appeal following the exclusion of karate and wushu

KUALA LUMPUR: In response to the elimination of multiple medal-prospective sports for Malaysia from the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will file an appeal with the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF).

At the last SEAGF Sports and Rules Committee meeting in Bangkok, Thailand submitted a 40-sport schedule, including flying disc and tug of war, as demonstration sports for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, which will take place in Bangkok, Chonburi, and Songkhla from December 9–20, 2020.

The two gold mine sports in the nation, wushu and karate, together with lawn bowls, ju-jitsu, and weightlifting, were surprisingly left off the list.

In order to file the appeal by the August 31st deadline, the umbrella organisation is presently gathering input from the relevant national sports associations (NSA), according to OCM President Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria.

Every host nation is allowed, following consultation with their government, to suggest a list of preliminary sports from a variety of categories under the SEAGF Charter and Rules. This is contingent to the SEAGF Council’s ultimate approval following its review of other nations’ requests.The sport must first represent the majority of the 11 competing nations, with a minimum of four countries participating in each event. After that, the local NSA must lobby.

After presiding over the World Taekwondo Kyorugi and Poomsae International Referee Seminar and Refresher Course at Wisma OCM here today, he told reporters, “At least 15 months prior to the opening ceremony, which is around September 9 this year,” describing the procedure that all participants would adhere to.

Speaking about weightlifting’s removal, Mohamad Norza stated that it is because of doping breaches in the host nation. Nevertheless, he expressed hope that the appeal will be well received because many nations want to see the popular Olympic event hosted.