Tuesday, July 27, 2010

OCM finalise Asian Games selection list for Malaysia

Olympic Council of MalaysiaImage via Wikipedia
KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have approved 136 athletes under the Category B for the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.
But for four teams, the OCM have lowered the target under which they will be eligible for a refund of the expenses incurred.
The OCM secretary general, Datuk Sieh Kok Chi (pic), said yesterday that the selection committee had picked 31 of the 44 sports in which Malaysia will compete in the Games.
The Category B athletes are from 17 sports. In the past, the OCM only reimburse athletes in this category for the expenses if they won a medal.
This time, the football, rugby and cricket teams will get a refund if they make the quarter-finals. For the women’s athletics relay team, the target is to make the final.
Malaysia will also have Category B athletes in three other sports but they will not get any refund even if they win a medal. They are in sports making their Asiad debut – keel boat, weiqi (Go) and xiangqi. Keel boat comes under the sailing programme while weiqi is Japanese board game and xiangqi is Chinese chess.
“Those in these sports have agreed to fund themselves. They do not come under the main sports events and therefore are not eligible for funding from us,” said Kok Chi.
The 31 sports that Malaysia will take part in are aquatics, athletics, archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, bowling, boxing, chess, cricket, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, kabaddi, karate, rugby, sailing, squash, shooting, sepak takraw, table tennis, taekwondo, trialthon, volleyball, weightlifting, wushu, weiqi, xiangqi.
Malaysia will not feature in baseball, basketball, canoeing, dance sport, dragon boat race, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, roller sports, roving, softball, wrestling and tennis.
Kok Chi said that the Malaysian contingent would have a total of 346 athletes and 102 officials.
A total of 476 gold medals are at stake and the OCM target for the contingent is to win 10 of them. Malaysia’s best gold medal haul in the series was eight at the last Games in Doha in 2006.
Kok Chi said that individuals could still make the cut for Games if they met the qualifying marks before Sept 30.
“Entries by country close on July 31 and the deadline for entries by name is Sept 30. We have finalised the selection list but if athletes make the grade in the coming two months, their associations can appeal for their inclusion,” he said.

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