Elite track cyclists to stay away from SEA Games

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will not send their elite track cyclists for the Indonesia SEA Games in November although a clean sweep of the gold medals in the men’s event is possible.
With elite cyclists like Azizulhasni Awang, Josiah Ng and Rizal Tisin in their ranks, it won’t take much for Malaysia to dominate the proceedings.

But the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) prefer more challenging tasks for their riders.
MNCF deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad also felt the same, adding that he strongly supported Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek’s suggestion that athletes for the Road to London programme focused on the 2012 Olympics than participating in the SEA Games.

Naim, in fact, prefers to use the SEA Games as a platform to expose the back-up riders.
“Cyclists who excel at the SEA Games should then move on to higher continental and world competitions. We should send our back-up riders to the SEA Games and let our elite cyclists focus on qualifying for the Olympics.

Naim pointed out that the SEA Games, to be held from Nov 11-20, would clash with the World Cup meets in Australia and Colombia for the 2011-2012 season.

“These two World Cup meets offer valuable qualifying points towards the Olympics. The qualifying process has already started and we are working hard to meet the objectives of getting representation in all the sprint disciplines on the track,” he said.

Track cycling was last held at the Korat SEA Games four years ago, with Malaysia bagging all four gold medals in the sprint disciplines.



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Penganjur ada hak pinda acara Sukan Sea

NASIB sama mungkin menimpa sukan lain dan Majlis Olimpik Malaysia (MOM) menyatakan, lumrah negara tuan rumah menukar serta mengurangkan jumlah pingat atau acara yang bakal dipertandingkan di Sukan Sea.
Setiausaha Kehormat MOM, Datuk Sieh Kok Chi berkata, setiap negara penganjur pastinya akan mengubah beberapa perkara yang biasanya mendatangkan kelebihan kepada mereka untuk menang.

Katanya lagi, namun setiap perkara yang diubah itu, seperti yang berlaku terhadap sukan gimnastik sekarang ini tidak melanggar peraturan dan ia sah.
“Sekiranya Malaysia berpeluang menganjurkan temasya Sukan Sea pada 2019, pastinya kita melakukan perkara sama dan melaksanakan sedikit perubahan. Kali terakhir kita menjadi tuan rumah adalah pada 2001 dan kita lakukan beberapa perubahan pada waktu itu.

“Sebagai penganjur, negara yang terbabit mempunyai hak untuk mengubah, mengurangkan atau menambah jumlah pingat malah boleh menyingkirkan terus mana-mana acara. Oleh itu, kita dan negara lain perlu menghormati kuasa tuan rumah,” katanya, semalam.

Arena Metro, semalam, melaporkan Persekutuan Gimnastik Malaysia (MGF) menerima khabar negatif apabila diberitahu jumlah pingat emas acaranya akan dikurangkan dari 24 ke 17, di temasya Sukan Sea, Indonesia, November ini.

Perkara itu dibantah negara Konfederasi Gimnastik Asia Tenggara (Seagcon), termasuk Malaysia, yang menganggap tindakan itu tidak adil dan berusaha mengekalkan jumlah sedia ada.

Mengulas lanjut, Kok Chi berkata, setakat ini pihaknya menerima khabar ia hanya membabitkan acara gimnastik.

Hard facts in SEAG gold medal count

With less than nine months to go to the 26th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) to be held from Nov. 11-25, 2011 in Palembang, Indonesia, it might be good for us to objectively and clinically take stock of where we are and where we could possibly end using available hard data. These data were culled from the results of the Guangzhou Asian Games held in Nov. 2010 where all 11 Southeast Asian nations competed against 34 other countries that included Asian giants like China, Japan and the two Koreas.

The performance of the other ASEAN countries in Guangzhou should trigger warning signals since it would be a tremendous challenge to raise the performance of Filipino athletes with less than a year to go.

There are about 562 events in 44 sports in the 26th SEA Games. Examining the results of those sports that were in the Asian Games and where ASEAN countries won the gold, silver and bronze medals over their Asian counterparts may be instructive.

Indonesia, which will host the SEA Games for the fourth time, the last time in 1997, is expected to capture the over-all championship. As host, Indonesia was given the privilege of introducing or reintroducing sports where it presumably has the biggest chance of winning the gold medal. In the SEA Games Federation Council Meeting held in Hotel Mulia, Jakarta in May 2010, part of which I attended, Indonesia proposed to include, among others, paragliding, wall climbing, bridge and soft tennis.

In Guangzhou, the Indonesians won three gold medals in dragon boat while Myanmar and Thailand won three silvers and two bronzes, respectively. The Indons also won one gold medal in badminton and three bronzes, while Malaysia won two silvers.

Vietnam, which has continued to amaze Southeast Asia, may most likely end up in second place. It won a gold, silver and bronze in Asian Games karate. Vietnam also captured three silvers and four bronzes in wushu and four bronzes in taekwondo. The Vietnamese served notice of their ascension as an athletics power by capturing three silvers and two bronzes in China.

Thailand, armed with a booming economy despite the political instability it suffered last year, is expected to battle Vietnam for second spot. The Thais won four golds in sepak takraw. Thailand also did well in sailing (three golds and one silver), taekwondo (one gold, two silver and four bronzes) and athletics (one gold and one bronze).

The Thais could also be considered gold medal threats in dragon boat, wushu and cycling.

The Malaysians, who could land fourth overall, are expected to dominate squash: they won three golds and one bronze in Guangzhou. Malaysia also crowded the gold medalists in the diving competitions in Guangzhou by winning four silvers and five bronzes. 

The same situation occurred in sepak takraw (one silver) and sailing (two silvers and one bronze). Malaysia should also be considered the favorite in cycling after having won one gold and one silver in the Asian Games. Malaysia should also produce podium finishes in bowling having won two golds, one silver and one bronze in Guangzhou.