KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Athletes who will take on the national challenge at the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi are reminded not to worry about the Covid-19 situation in Vietnam when the games kick off next month.

Although Vietnam has been recording an average of more than 70,000 positive cases a day, Malaysian Contingent chef de mission (CDM) to the Hanoi SEA Games Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad said based on his visit to Hanoi last month to review preparations for the biennial games, the situation there was still under control.

“Athletes need not worry, except to take care of themselves. Apart from being organised in the concept of a sports bubble, we also do not allow national athletes to go out at will except to the event venue and back to the hotel only.

“The National Sports Council (MSN) has also arranged the process of providing (halal) food to our athletes. I am more worried in terms of medal collection as it is the responsibility of the team manager to ensure that athletes comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the organisers in Hanoi,” he told reporters here today.

Nur Azmi said this after a visit to meet with athletes and e-sports and athletics coaches at MSN Bukit Jalil.

At the same time, he was also satisfied with the cooperation given by all sports associations involved in the Games this time and assessed that they were ready to bring the Malaysian challenge to Hanoi.

Despite his reluctance to put any pressure on athletes to achieve success in Vietnam, Nur Azmi stressed that the SEA Games should not be deemed as “an outing” after not being able to compete abroad following the Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years.

“This is an opportunity for them to draw on their talent to get a medal… not a ‘holiday’ because they haven’t come out for a long time due to Covid-19 but this (Hanoi SEA Games) is the most important assignment,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nur Azmi said that he will hold a breaking-of-fast meeting with all the team managers to find out the latest developments and preparations for the national contingent on April 13.

Malaysia are expected to send 604 athletes and 279 officials to the Hanoi SEA Games which is scheduled to take place from May 12-23. — Bernama