Cover image via phnompenhpostThe Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) who is the organiser for next year's South East Asia (SEA) Games, have dropped a total of 8 athletics events, as announced over the weekend
Image via SEA Games 2017
According to Low Beng Choo, OCM's secretary general, the decision was based on the lack of participants for these events
Image via The Star
However, she assured that the decision has not been finalised yet. Appeals can be made from now until July.
The final list of the sports and events will be confirmed during the SEA Games Federation meeting in Kuala Lumpur by **July 13 or 14.**
In addition to that, OCM president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar confirmed that five sports including canoeing have also been dropped from the list
Needless to say, the decision to drop athletic events didn't sit well with many, including Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin
Image via The Malaysian Insider
Officials from the Sports Ministry also lamented that the excuse of not having enough participants is not valid
The decision also sparked an online petition, which has over 1,150 signatures at the time of writing
The online petition hopes to get 5,000 signatures by the end of February. If you want to sign for it, check it out [here](http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/triathlon4seagames2017).
Image via iPetition
The 29th SEA Games, scheduled from 19 to 31 August next year, will be held in Kuala Lumpur, with a total of 11 ASEAN countries participating
Image via New Strait Times
The participating countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philipines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
