AS international sport federations look into ways to deal with the transgender eligibility issue, what is Malaysia's stand on this?
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria, who has been following the developments in recent months, believes it is still too early to say this will affect sports in Southeast Asia.
World aquatics body, Fina, and the International Rugby League (IRL) have, over the past week, announced that they have banned transgender athletes from competing in women's competitions.
Both Fifa and World Athletics have also said that they will review their transgender eligibility rules following Fina's implementation.
Fina announced that they will be setting up a new open category in which transgender athletes will be allowed to compete in.
If adopted at Southeast Asia level, the new open category could potentially complicate hosting of events such as the Sea Games in the future. Malaysia is scheduled to host the 2027 Sea Games.
Norza said OCM are closely monitoring the situation and will act accordingly when the time comes.
"This (transgender issue) has been around for some time, and Fina have taken a close look at the matter before coming to a decision," said Norza when contacted by Timesport yesterday.
"At the end of the day, we basically follow the lead of international federations as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"As for what will happen at the Sea Games Federation (SEAGF) level, it is premature for me to comment.
"We will closely monitor the situation and look at what IOC and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have to say. We will update our national sports associations when the time comes."
Male-to-female transgender athletes are proven to hold a distinct physical advantage over cisgender women, and thus many view their participation in women's competitions unfair.
Fina have stated that only male-to-female transgender athletes who have not experienced male puberty or those who make the transition before the age of 12 - whichever is later - are eligible to compete in women's competition.
While IRL have implemented the move to bar transgender athletes from women's competition, they disclosed that further research and consultation is needed before it can finalise the policy for the long term.
Transgender players will, however, not be able to compete in the women's Rugby League World Cup in England later this year.