Monday, September 24, 2007
ACCORDING to the entry form submitted by Brunei for the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games before July 8, 145 athletes will compete in 13 sports at the biennial tournament in Thailand this year.
The number is lower than the 187 athletes sent to the previous 2005 SEA Games in Manila, Philippines.
And the relatively small 145-head count from Brunei, out of the total 6609 to be present in Thailand, will most likely decrease further as more selection processes will be held to select only the best of the best, according to Hj Md Zamri Dato Paduka Hj Hamdani, the assistant chef de mission for the 24th SEA Games in Korat, Thailand.
Brunei, he said, would only support and send athletes who had shown obvious improvements in the past two years and were capable of upholding a good image of the country overseas.
He added that it was pointless to send athletes overseas if they could not compete with those from other countries.
"We want to make sure that the sports we compete in are those that ... even if we don't win, we will make it hard for others to win. In other words we want to make sure that if we lose it will be by a very small margin," said Zamri.
In the 2005 SEA Games Brunei's athletes competed in 16 events, but three sports chess, ten-pin bowling and wushu had been excluded from this year's list, raising a few eyebrows, especially from the bowlers.
Zamri said: "Sadly (ten-pin bowling) was not included this year because so far we haven't seen any improvements in their game.
"At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar the three bowlers who represented the country failed to even achieve their personal best ... so how can they be expected to give a good fight (at the SEA Games) in December?" asked the assistant chef de mission.
Thus, ten-pin bowling was excluded from Brunei's SEA Games' list despite the fact that the bowlers had won two gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, in May.
Wushu also didn't make the cut and chess was not included because the sport was not contested at the SEA Games this year.
Brunei will this year compete in athletics, canoeing, cue sports, cycling, equestrian, fencing, golf, karatedo, lawn bowls, pencak silat, sepak takraw, taekwondo and traditional boat race.
The Brunei Times
The number is lower than the 187 athletes sent to the previous 2005 SEA Games in Manila, Philippines.
And the relatively small 145-head count from Brunei, out of the total 6609 to be present in Thailand, will most likely decrease further as more selection processes will be held to select only the best of the best, according to Hj Md Zamri Dato Paduka Hj Hamdani, the assistant chef de mission for the 24th SEA Games in Korat, Thailand.
Brunei, he said, would only support and send athletes who had shown obvious improvements in the past two years and were capable of upholding a good image of the country overseas.
He added that it was pointless to send athletes overseas if they could not compete with those from other countries.
"We want to make sure that the sports we compete in are those that ... even if we don't win, we will make it hard for others to win. In other words we want to make sure that if we lose it will be by a very small margin," said Zamri.
In the 2005 SEA Games Brunei's athletes competed in 16 events, but three sports chess, ten-pin bowling and wushu had been excluded from this year's list, raising a few eyebrows, especially from the bowlers.
Zamri said: "Sadly (ten-pin bowling) was not included this year because so far we haven't seen any improvements in their game.
"At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar the three bowlers who represented the country failed to even achieve their personal best ... so how can they be expected to give a good fight (at the SEA Games) in December?" asked the assistant chef de mission.
Thus, ten-pin bowling was excluded from Brunei's SEA Games' list despite the fact that the bowlers had won two gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, in May.
Wushu also didn't make the cut and chess was not included because the sport was not contested at the SEA Games this year.
Brunei will this year compete in athletics, canoeing, cue sports, cycling, equestrian, fencing, golf, karatedo, lawn bowls, pencak silat, sepak takraw, taekwondo and traditional boat race.
The Brunei Times