June 22, 2018 @ 7:46pm
KUALA LUMPUR: Seventeen sports associations tried their luck to travel to the Asian Games in Jakarta for free, but the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) were in no mood to hand out Hari Raya ang-pows yesterday.
Games Chef-de-mission Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Zabidi said they stood by the fourth-best mark for qualification on merit.
Athletes who travel on Category A will be fully sponsored while those who go to the Games on Category B will have to boot their own expenses, and need to win a medal to be reimbursed.
"We received 17 appeals but only entertained the addition of three officials and 10 athletes, while many were rejected based on their ranking and past achievements.
"Athletes or teams need to be fourth best in Asia to travel on A, while the rest will go on B. Earlier our contingent was 570 athletes and officials, and now 583, which is still a manageable size," said Abdul Azim at Wisma OCM.
Women's hockey, earlier reported to be in category A, will travel on B, if the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) is willing to foot expenses.
"Women's hockey is ranked fifth in Asia and the earlier confusion was because they had finished fourth in the Asian Champions Trophy, but that was not one of the tournaments used as a yardstick.
"They appealed, but we said no to them," said Abdul Azim.
Among the other notable sports' appeals to Caregory A which were rejected are -- men's soccer, women's badminton team, men's three-on-three basketball, handball, kabaddi, silat, sepak takraw, shooting, artistic swimming, table-tennis, jet-ski and rugby.
And with a bigger number of athletes than the previous Games in Incheon, Abdul Azim expects the number of medals to be about the same or more than the 33 won.
"We will have more athletes than 2104 in South Korea, so realistically, I will be expecting them to at least win 33 or more medals in Jakarta," said Abdul Azim.
Malaysia won 5-14-14 in South Korea.
And on the drink diving issue, Abdul Azim feels an apology from the national divers is enough said, and done.
"The divers have apologised, and so they will be competing in the Asian Games. Period."
Three Podium Programme divers — Pandelela Rinong, Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Chew Yiwei — as well as four juniors Jellson Jabillin, Gabriel Gilbert Daim and Kimberly Bong and Tracy Vivian Tukiet were involved in a party during the Chinese New Year, where they consumed beer.
