Malaysia to Have Two Deputy Chefs-De-Mission for Philippines SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is set to have two deputy chefs-de-mission (CDMs) for the SEA Games, to be held in the Philippines in November, so as to facilitate communication between athletes and sports officials. The 30th edition of the Games will be held at four venues, Manila, Clark, Subic and BLT (Batangas, La Union and Tagaytay). Chef de mission Megat Zulkarnain Omardin said Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Norza Zakaria had indicated his consent to the proposal, which would be tabled at OCM’s executive committee meeting soon. Megat Zulkarnain, who said that four candidates would be shortlisted, added that he had also suggested that one of the two deputy CDMs be a woman. “We will definitely pick two people who have been involved in and know directly about multi-sports Games at the international level as they will have to work independently due to the distance between venues,” he told reporters after attending a special briefing on the latest developments for the SEA Games here Wednesday. Forty representatives of national sports associations (NSA) attended the briefing, which was presented by Philippine SEA Games Organising Committee (PhilSGOC) executive director Ramon Suzara. Meanwhile, Megat Zulkarnain, who is also the National Silat Federation (Pesaka) secretary-general, was confident Malaysia would do well in the SEA Games despite the absence of former world champions Mohd Al Jufferi Jamari and Siti Rahmah Mohamad Nasir. This is due to the Philippines’ decision to have only nine categories after dropping the men and women’s Class E (65-70kg) events, which Al Jufferi and Siti Rahmah took part in in the last few editions. “I am not worried as we have seen the rise of our young exponents in the lower class, especially Mohamad Hazmi Amzad, Mohd Faizul Nasir and Nor Farah Mazlan, at the World Silat Championships last year. So, we stand a good chance,” said Megat Zulkarnain, adding that Pesaka had arranged special training programmes for Al Jufferi and Siti Rahmah to make sure the two would stay in top shape. -- BERNAMA