244-Member contingent to Islamic Solidarity Games in Riau

The National Sports Council's (NSC) head of Islamic Games elite sports support services unit Shaari Shamsudin said it was a marked increase when compared with the 128 who competed in the first edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2005.

"The number of contingent members was decided after a meeting between NSC and the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) on Feb 27," he told Bernama when contacted today.

Shaari said Malaysia will compete in 13 of the 17 sports contested and that the number of contestants may change when the final list is submitted to the organisers.

He said Malaysia will not be competing in football, basketball, sport climbing and traditional boat race after failing to meet the qualifying mark.

"Despite not competing in the four sports, we are however, confident of winning more medals from other sports," he said.

In the 2005 edition, Malaysia finished in seventh spot after winning five gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

The second edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games that was supposed to be hosted by Tehran, Iran in 2010, was cancelled by the Islamic Games Federation (ISSF) when the host country failed to prepare facilities and venues needed to host the games.

The idea to organise the Islamic Solidarity Games came about during the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Putrajaya back in 2003 and participated by 57 member countries.