KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — A "safe bubble” of two weeks will be established to avoid any Covid-19 cluster in the national contingent to the SEA Games, just before all athletes and officials leave for Hanoi, Vietnam.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the National Sports Council (NSC) would implement the segregation for about 750 members of the national contingent who usually depart in stages for the games.

Following the sharp increase in Omicron variant cases recently, he said they needed to establish a safe protocol as the number of athletes for the biennial games was large, compared to participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games last year.

He said Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation president Melvin Chia and Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) secretary-general Afrita Ariany Nasril, who were appointed deputy chefs de mission to assist Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad, were also asked to give special emphasis to the protocol to prevent Covid-19.

"While we maintain the right protocol for safety, we also need to maintain the right protocol for anti-doping. I suppose they have to think of all (athletes tested for doping before departure), but the cost is not cheap.

"I believe our Medical and Anti-doping Committee together with the National Sports Institute (NSI) will come up with the procedures and protocols,” said Norza at a press conference after chairing the OCM executive board meeting at Wisma OCM here today.

He said the contingent so far was 783 strong (584 athletes and 199 officials), with 226 athletes in Category A (costs fully borne) and 358 athletes for Category B (costs refunded if they win a medal).

According to him, the actual size of the national contingent will only be known after the closing date for registration with the organisers on Saturday (March 12), and he expects around 750 athletes, as there are still sports such as athletics, swimming, e-sports and rowing that have not been confirmed.

Norza said the status of the participation of national gymnast queen Farah Ann Abdul Hadi would only be known by Saturday, as OCM was still awaiting a decision from MGF.

Asked about the status of player selection for the Fifa Online 4 (FO4) e-sports, he said discussions were still ongoing after the Malaysian Electronic Sports Federation (MESF) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) agreed to send two athletes each.

"Initially it was agreed for 50-50 contributions, but there is also ongoing discussion about this. At the moment, we are supporting the 50-50 in ongoing talks,” he said.

Today’s meeting also approved appeals for four shooters (three men, one woman), two male divers to be promoted to Category A, as well as the inclusion of Category B athletes from kurash (folk wrestling — three men and three women) and fin swimming (underwater with use of fins — one male).

On another front, after making two consecutive appearances at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, OCM also thinks it should work closely with NSC for more careful planning so that more national athletes can qualify for the next edition, in Milano Cortina 2026. — Bernama