Laos asks for support after Games jibe
07 January, 2009

BANGKOK: Organisers of this year's Southeast Asian Games have called for understanding among member countries after Malaysia's sports minister blasted Laos for turning the competition into a low-level "community Games".

Somphou Phongsa, Laos's deputy Olympic chief, said all 11 countries had recently agreed on 25 sports - 18 fewer than the last edition-and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's threat to send a second-string team would go against the spirit of the Games.

"We are a poor country with limited facilities to host the normal number of sports. We have made that clear and everyone has agreed," Somphou told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.

"I don't know of the minister's comments but we expect support and we expect every country to send the best athletes they have."

Ismail Sabri this week said Malaysia's performance would be hurt by the scrapping of some traditional Olympic sports and he would consider sending younger, less experienced athletes to Laos's "community" Games.

The communist nation is relying almost entirely on foreign funding to host the Games and has caused a stir by choosing obscure disciplines like pencak silat, fin swimming and petanque in place of sports like gymnastics, cycling and basketball.

It has also come under fire for introducing athlete quotas to stop countries sweeping the medals at the Dec. 9-18 Games in Vientiane, which will be the cash-strapped nation's first international sports event.

The 11 competing nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, hosts Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam. - Reuters