SUKMA

KUALA LUMPUR: National athletes who had competed at the Asian, Commonwealth and SEA Games are still eligible for the Sukma Games.

National Sports Council events management director Abdul Jalil Abdullah said the ban on national athletes at the Melaka Sukma in 2010 was only for Olympic athletes.

“The Olympic athletes are barred from Sukma because of their high standard. Their inclusion will be unfair to the other athletes,” he told Bernama here yesterday.

Jalil was explaining the confusion over the move to bar national athletes from the Melaka Sukma as announced by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Tuesday.

Ismail did not say whether Asian, Commonwealth and SEA Games national athletes would also be affected by the Sukma ban.

— Bernama