MALAYSIA – Malaysia will be hosting the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2017 based on the recent meeting in Singapore by the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) Sport & Rules Committee.
The committee agreed during the Singapore meeting that Malaysia will host the SEA Games in 2017, followed by Brunei in 2019 and then Vietnam in 2021.
Since the inaugural SEA Games, which was held in Bangkok in 1959, Malaysia has hosted the 1977, 1989 and 2001 Games.
The last time Malaysia host the Games is in Kuala Lumpur 2001. By the time the country will host the games, it will be 16 years after Malaysia hosted the biennial event.
The SEA Games in Malaysia will be held in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching.
The SEA Games has been held every two years starting in 1959 in Thailand.
Vietnam, meanwhile, awaits the approval of its Prime Minister for the hosting of the 31st SEA Games. The country first hosted the games in 2003.
Vietnam received the invitation to host the game through a letter sent by Chris Chan of the SEAGF to Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Anh Tuan.
If Vietnam’s Prime Minister agrees to the invitation, the Vietnam Olympics Committee will make its confirmation to SEAGF in the next meeting on 04 June in Singapore.
Otherwise, the SEAGF will appoint another country to host the 31st SEA Games in 2021.
The SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia.
The games is under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia. – BusinessNewsAsia.com