At a time when government's sports funding has been slashed by more than 50 per cent, National Sports Associations (NSAs) are staying cautious in their approach to the possibility of Malaysia hosting the 2027 Sea Games.
On Tuesday, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president, Tan Sri Norza Zakaria announced that Malaysia had expressed an interest in hosting the 34th Sea Games, following the withdrawal of initial host, Brunei.
The announcement came several weeks after Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu revealed that the National Sports Council (NSC) were forced to reduce the number of full-time athletes from 432 to 288 this year, after Malaysian sports were allocated only a total of RM289 million by the government.
When contacted, Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) secretary general, Maradona Chok said: "Given the current circumstances, it is a little hard to predict.
"2027 is in five years' time. With the recent budget cuts as well as the Covid-19 situation, who knows where we will be?
"Having said that, we, as an association, will continue to do what we do best, and that is to prepare our athletes in the best possible way to have them ready for competitions.
"This year, we have the Vietnam Sea Games to look forward to, and after two years of not hosting, we are planning to go ahead with the Inter-state and National Championship this March."
Meanwhile, BA of Malaysia secretary general Datuk Kenny Goh chose to look at the positive aspect of hosting the 2027 Sea Games.
"2027 is five years from now, that leaves us with enough time to prepare our junior shuttlers.
"After all, the Sea Games is a stepping stone for our national backup rather than our elite athletes," said Kenny.
Should Malaysia host the Sea Games in 2027, it will be the seventh time since 1965, 1971,1977, 1989, 2001 and 2017.