POC: Malaysia wants more Olympic sports in 2017 SEAG

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee chief Jose Cojuangco Jr. is confident that Malaysia will give more weight to Olympic sports when it hosts the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.

Malaysian organizers had earlier announced that Olympic disciplines would be given priority while the number of non-Olympic events held regularly in the biennial sportsfest would be cut down.

“I’m confident that the proposed arrangement calling for two sports categories in Malaysia will push through,” said Cojuangco.

He explained that Malaysia hopes to introduce a new dimension in the 11-nation meet by adopting separate medal tallies for Olympic and non-Olympic sports.

“It’s about time we separate these two categories,” said Cojuangco. “We must put premium on Olympic sports if we want to perform well in the Olympics.”

Host countries have figured prominently in the overall standings of previous SEA Games due to the number of indigenous sports they are allowed to include in the events calendar.

“Olympic medalists from our region have diminished partly due to this practice,” said Cojuangco.