KUALA LUMPUR: Several sports previously excluded from the 2025 Sea Games in Thailand, which have strong medal potential for Malaysia, are set to be reinstated.
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary general Datuk Nazifuddin Najib revealed that sports such as bowling, weightlifting, wushu, karate, jujitsu and kabaddi are among those likely to be reinstated.
"We had a meeting with the organisers and the Sea Games Federation (SEAGF) on Sept 5 to submit an appeal for several sports to be reinstated in the Sea Games in Thailand," Nazifuddin told Bernama today.
"Ninety percent of OCM's appeals received a positive response from the hosts, who plan to feature 50 sports with 550 events."
In June, OCM announced plans to appeal to SEAGF to include several medal-winning sports for Malaysia after Thailand proposed reducing the number of sports to 40 for the 2025 edition.
At that time, karate, wushu, jujitsu, lawn bowls, and weightlifting — considered "gold mine" sports for Malaysia — were left out of the 33rd Sea Games, scheduled for Dec 9-20, 2025.
Meanwhile, Nazifuddin confirmed that they are working on an appeal to include lawn bowls in the Games, with a decision expected at a meeting on Oct 5.
"Lawn bowls is one of the sports the National Sports Council (NSC) requested to be included in the Sea Games," he added.
"We may also submit appeals for other sports such as dance sport, paragliding, and jetski."
Lawn bowls was last contested at the 2019 edition in the Philippines, where Malaysia won four golds and two bronzes. - Bernama