KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The result of an appeal by 10 countries for 22 sports to be included in the 31st edition of the SEA Games in Vietnam next year will only be known in November.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said of the 22 sports, Malaysia appealed for 11 of them to be included in the Vietnam Games, which is scheduled to be held in Hanoi from November 21 to December 2, 2021.

Vietnam, however, has asked to be given until November to make a decision due to the long list of sports seeking to be included.

“Vietnam proposed that the list not be decided at today’s meeting as it needs to evaluate the sporting and logistical aspects. So, it will table the revised list of sports at the next meeting scheduled to be held in November,” he told a press conference at Wisma OCM after participating in the SEA Games Federation Council meeting, which was conducted via online, today.

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Although host Vietnam had listed 36 sports, the other 10 countries appealed for the inclusion of 22 more sports and three disciplines.

The 36 sports are athletics, aquatics (swimming and diving), archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoe, cycling (road and mountain bike), dancesport, fencing, football/futsal, golf, gymnastics, handball, volleyball, judo, karate, rowing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling, billiards and snooker, chess/xiangqi (Chinese chess), Muay, pencak silat, petanque, sepak takraw, finswimming, bodybuilding, wushu, kurash, kickboxing, vovinam (Vietnamese martial arts).

The 11 sports which Malaysia appealed for inclusion in the biennial Games are indoor hockey, netball, sailing, tenpin bowling, squash, lawn bowls, cricket, rugby 7s, skateboard, floorball and sambo (a Soviet origin combat sport).

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The other sports asked to be included are muay, triathlon, taekwondo ITF, traditional boat race, jujitsu, e-sports, arnis, obstacle course, kempo, teqball and soft tennis; while the three disciplines are chinlone (under sepak takraw), water polo and synchronised swimming (under aquatics).

Norza said the meeting also discussed the hosting of future editions of the Games, with Cambodia being host in 2023, Thailand in 2025 and Laos in 2029.

“Brunei, who is supposed to host the 34th edition in 2027, has not confirmed its status as it needs to discuss with its government first,” he said. — Bernama