Race against time

PETALING JAYA: Eighteen young Malaysian athletes set to compete in the SEA Games this December are still waiting for confirmation on whether they can sit for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination – raising concerns as the clash between academic and national sporting commitments grows more urgent.

The biennial SEA Games, taking place in Thailand from Dec 9–20, overlaps with the national exam period (Nov 3–Dec 23).

Chef de mission Nurul Huda Abdullah (pic) is urging the Education Ministry to respond swiftly, noting that time is running out for a solution.

“There have been concerns raised to me about athletes who are supposed to sit for their SPM examination, which clash with the SEA Games schedule. So far, there has been no definite response,” she said after chairing a coordination meeting with team managers yesterday.

Parents of the athletes have expressed worry, but at the same time feel caught between academic priorities and national duty.

Nurul Huda stressed that immediate coordination is vital to ensure these athletes – most of whom are making their Games debut – are not forced to choose between national duty and their education.

At the same time, the meeting also discussed accommodation arrangements for national athletes competing at the Games, as hosts Thailand will not be building an athletes’ village like in previous editions.

Although hotels will be used instead, the challenge this time is that athletes from the same country will not be housed together, as accommodation will be arranged based on their respective sports.

“What will be different this time is that hotels will be assigned according to sports, not countries. This means our entire contingent will be spread across several hotels, which will make logistics and coordination slightly more challenging for us.

“This is particularly so when it comes to coordinating visits from the teams to the National Sports Institute (NSI) or for sports science support. Right now, NSI are identifying which hotel would be the central for all teams to make coordination and logistics easier,” she added.