BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

NEXT year’s 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) will make use of existing facilities, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar said yesterday.

As in previous years, Brunei is expected to be among the countries competing in the biennial SEA Games — which was last held in Singapore last year.

“We want to make full use of what we have and try not to waste so much,” Tunku Imran was quoted as saying by Malaysian news agency Bernama.

Tunku Imran was speaking at a press conference after opening a briefing for regional broadcasters yesterday.

A report by Bernama stated that the Malaysian SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games Organising Committee (MASOC) are planning the budget for the Games having already listed out the number of sports to be contested.

“After we came out with the list of sports in July, now we are planning the budget and the budget has been approved as announced by the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) recently,” added Tunku Imran in the Bernama report.

Tunku Imran said the renovation and upgrading process at most of the venues have started.

The venues for the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games are situated in 25 locations in the Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan and Langkawi.

“We tried to find venues that were situated in iconic places, for instance for the archery event, it will be held at Dataran Merdeka where our first Prime Minister proclaimed Malaysia’s independence in 1957,” said Tunku Imran in the report.

“For indoor sports, MASOC will introduce three clusters for several indoor sports, namely the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Bukit Jalil Sports Complex and the Malaysian International Trade Exhibition Centre (MITEC).

Tunku Imran noted that broadcasters have significant responsibilities in delivering the best sporting experience to the viewers and are an important tool in attracting the interest of many companies wanting to create or increase their brand awareness.

“In this context, broadcasters have a golden opportunity to assist their potential clients to reach out to more than 600 million people in the Southeast Asian region,” he told Bernama.

The Brunei Times