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| Thai fans were pretty keen on the Sea Games last time around [EPA] |
The Southeast Asian Games will introduce athlete quotas in half its sports next year to prevent dominant countries from sweeping the medals.
The biennial event, taken almost as seriously as the Olympics by its 11 member countries, will restrict the number of athletes each nation enters in 12 of the 25 Sea Games sports in Laos next year.
"We've seen it before, some countries are so strong they're almost guaranteed a clean sweep," Sea Games council member Charoen Wattanasin said on Wednesday.
"There was a long debate, most countries agreed, some didn't, but we will introduce the limits next year."
Sepaktakraw slashed
Quotas will be placed mainly on martial arts like taekwondo, wushu, judo and karate, but will also affect non-combat sports such as weightlifting and sepaktakraw – a version of volleyball played with the feet.
The ruling is likely to cause a stir among member countries, most of which were unhappy when cash-strapped Laos was awarded the Games, its first international event.
The decision to slash the number of sports from 43 to 25 to suit the country's limited budget and facilities had already angered many athletes, with obscure disciplines like martial art pencak silat and petanque, or boules, replacing sports like gymnastics and basketball.
Laos capital Vientiane will host the 25th Sea Games from December 9-18, 2009.
Thailand topped the medal tables at the last edition in Bangkok in 2007, with Malaysia second and Vietnam third.
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