A draw for the 2018 Asian Games resulted in confusion in the Malaysia camp after they were drawn for a sepaktakraw event that they did not register for.
The men's team had been preparing for regu and team regu events since the start of the year, targetting to win gold in both, but they were inexplicably included for a team doubles event at the draw held on Thursday.
Malaysian Sepaktakraw Association president Ahmad Ismail immediately voiced his objection, but it was ignored, as the hosts would only accept an official appeal from an Olympic Council of a participating country.
Unfortunately, no Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) representative was present at the draw to discuss the matter.
Due to that, pending an official appeal from the OCM, the Malaysia men's team would participate in team regu and team doubles at the Games, officially starting on August 18, while the women's would compete in team regu and quadrant.
"We have not made preparations for any doubles event. Will the 30 days that we have now [until the Games begins] be enough to prepare three doubles pairs? Not one, but three," Ahmad told Astro Arena.
"It will cause problems but I will adhere to the OCM's decision."
Meanwhile, Erick Thohir, chairman of the Indonesian Asian Games 2018 Organising Committee (INASGOC), expressed his disappointment that there was no OCM representative present at the draw.
"It is difficult to change the result of the draw now, especially when the data we have is from the OCM," he said.
"As the host nation, Indonesia is professional and honest [on matters related to the Games]."
Seng Foo Lee
Fri Jul 06 2018
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