The 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games will be held on Aug 19-31 while the ASEAN Para Games will take place on Sept 17-23, the Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, announced today.

Khairy said the two biennial games would be officially known as 'KL2017' for the purpose of promoting both games together, and having an inclusive identity.

Earlier, Malaysia had suggested to run both events concurrently, however, this was rejected by the Sea Games Federation (SEAGF) during their meeting, here last week.

"Although as the host country, we are disappointed at the lack of vision and courage shown by the SEAGF, we respect the decision.

"We will move on to organise the best ever SEA Games and the ASEAN Para Games," he said in a statement, today.

Khairy said the goal to organise both games concurrently was to coincide with the theme 'Rising Together'.

He said, the Games' secretariat (MASOC) had done a detailed study on staging both games at the same time and there were no technical or logistical reasons why it could not happen.

Meanwhile, Khairy said more than 54,000 people had registered their interest to become volunteers, but only 12,000 had filled in the full forms.

The organisers are targeting to get 20,000 volunteers for the KL2017.

Regarding the progress of Bukit Jalil National Sport Complex refurbishment, Khairy said it was currently underway, although there would be no brand new facilities like the games that took place in Myanmar in 2013 and in Singapore last year.

"I believe that the upgrading of our existing iconic sports complex will further enhance the end-user experience for athletes and spectators alike," he said.