Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria

Competing countries raised concerns over their medal chances following the Philippines’ decision to hike the number of sports in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Clark this November.

Reigning champion Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia all agreed that predicting their respective finishes in the biennial meet after the increase in the number of sports to 56 — the biggest ever in SEA Games history — will be tough for the participants.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria said they have a very “unrealistic” chance of defending their title as only half of the 144 events they ruled in 2017 will be played in this year’s edition of the 11-nation sports conclave.

For instance, track cycling had been axed as well as key events in aquatics, prompting the Malaysians to easily lose a combined 24 out of their 144 gold medals.

With this, former world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Azizulhasni Awang of cycling and the Cheong Jun Hoong of diving are in danger of sitting out the SEA Games.

Norza refused to come up with a projection, saying they are leaving it up to the athletes to give their best.

“First of all, we must understand that the SEA Games is about friendship among Asean countries and for development. There is really no need in having this obsession over targets,” Norza told New Strait Times.

“Having said that, let us (OCM) first sit down and discuss with the NSC (national sports council) before coming up with any targets for the contingent.”

“Let’s wait to get some feedback from the NSAs (national sports associations) before finalizing anything.”

The Vietnamese and Singaporeans share the same sentiments.

According to Vietnam’s ranking sports officials, they are having difficulty shooting for the overall title after their pet events such as the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter walk in athletics and 800-meter freestyle in swimming have also been scratched.

Instead, they will just shoot for a top-three finish or just to surpass their third-place performance in the previous SEA Games of 59 gold, 50 silver and 61 bronze medals.

Singapore also admitted that the scratching of some events in aquatics, especially artistic swimming, hurt their title chances since the sport served as their “gold mine” in the past few editions of the meet.

The Indonesians, however, offer a different take.

With the host country having complete control in the selection of sports and events, Indonesia opted to send its developmental team – Team B – so that the elite athletes can focus on their training and preparation for the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Indonesia’s Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Gatot S Dewa Broto admitted that it will be hard to win the overall title following the host country’s decision to scratch their favorite events.

So, they will just send their “second layer,” which will march to the biennial meet with the ultimate mission of surpassing their fifth-place finish of 38 gold, 63 silver and 90 bronze medals in the previous SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

“We will send second layer athletes because those in the top layers will be sent to the Olympics. Our goal is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Gatot, whose country is coming off a very successful performance in the Asian Games last year.

“What is clear is that we send our second layer and target to (finish) better than the 2017 SEA Games.”

The Philippines, however, also has the same problem.

Deputy chief of mission Charlie Ho admitted that although their goal is to barge into the top three, they have yet to come up with a solid medal projection despite serving as the host country.

The last time the country hosted the biennial meet in 2005, it grabbed the overall crown with 112 gold, 85 silver and 93 bronze medals, thanks to the brilliance of top officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee (poc) who included sports where Filipino athletes have bright chances of winning.

But this time, the POC couldn’t predict the country’s overall chances.

“Of course, who wouldn’t want to finish on top?” Ho said in an interview.

“But at the same time, we also have to be realistic and temper our expectations. We don’t want to come up with any projections yet because other countries are preparing as well and we don’t want to put pressure on our athletes.”

The deadline for the submission of entry by numbers will be this month, while entries by names will be in March.

“After that, then we can kick off our preparation,” Ho said. “Right now, most NSAs are still in the process of identifying their bets through qualifying tournaments. So, we really can’t tell how we will fare.”