Ice skating to be contested at 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia

Ice prince: Chew in action.

KUALA LUMPUR: For the first time, ice skating will be contested at the 2017 SEA Games here.

Malaysia is a pioneer in the organisation of the winter sports event in South-East Asia.

Malaysia Ice Skating Association (Isam) president Fadzil Johan said the event was expected to be held at the ice skating rink now being built at Empire City, Damansara, and its official inclusion in the SEA Games would be announced next month.

He said the event would offer 10 medals via two disciplines, namely figure skating and short track (better known as ice racing) at the biennial meet.

“There are two gold medals in figure skating while short track offers eight gold medals.

“Before this, our athletes trained at Sunway Pyramid and IOI City Mall, Putrajaya.

“Isam will be sending ice skating athletes to South Korea next week after getting an allocation from the Government,” he told reporters after a ceremony to hand over the Malaysian flag to the national contingent to the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer 2016 on Feb 12-21.

During the ceremony, Malaysia Olympic Council (OCM) president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar handed over the Jalur Gemilang to Fadzil, who is the national contingent chief, and ice skating athlete Chew Kai Xiang at Wisma OCM yesterday.

Chew, 16, will be taking part in the figure skating event in the men’s category.

Fadzil said the athletes would be in South Korea for a month in preparation for the World Youth Championship in Bulgaria on Jan 29 and the World Cup in Amsterdam on Feb 10.

Overall, Fadzil was very satisfied with their achievements.

The national squad won three gold medals and a bronze medal at the Asia Open Championship in the Philippines and one bronze medal at the Qatar International Champion­­ship recently.

He said he was confident Chew would secure the best position at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.

Chew also took leave for a year to undergo training to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. – Bernama