Games-Ice sports to debut at SEA Games, Thais want Olympic focus

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - The 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia will have an uncharacteristically frosty feel for the tropical participants after ice skating and ice hockey were added to the biennial multi-sport event for the first time. The two winter sports were surprisingly approved by the South East Asian Games Federation and will not have to enter as demonstration sports, local media reported on Friday. "It will be a medal sport," Ice Skating Association of Malaysia president Mohamad Fadzil Johan was quoted as saying by Singapore's Today Newspaper. "Apart from Singapore and Malaysia, we have been assured of participants from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia, who are all members of the International Skating Union." Philippines have sent athletes to four Winter Olympics and Thailand three, while East Timor sent one skier to Sochi, Russia last year but the other eight Southeast Asian nations have never participated in a Winter Games. Singapore, which will stage the opening ceremony to launch the 28th edition of the biennial SEA Games later on Friday, said they had pushed hard for the introduction of winter sports. "There will be two ice skating disciplines, figure skating and short track speed skating," Singapore Ice Skating Association president Sonja Chong told the paper. "It is the legacy I hoped to leave for winter sports in Singapore -- winter sports being played side by side with summer sports." The move is likely to be welcomed by Thailand, who said the SEA Games should move away from featuring so many regional sports. "Sports at the Games should only be the Olympic disciplines," Sakol Wannapong, governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), was quoted as saying by Friday's Bangkok Post. The Thais are the most successful Olympic nation in the region with seven golds, just ahead of Indonesia's six. But no other Southeast Asian nation has won an Olympic event. But installing Olympic-priority change at the SEA Games will be tricky, with host nations allowed to change the programme and pick up to eight events -- often to the frustration of others. In 2011, Indonesia controversially dropped table tennis and added bridge and wall climbing, while Myanmar opted for the martial arts of kenpo and vovinam over tennis and gymnastics two years ago. "As a member of the SEA Games Federation, I personally want to correct things to make the Games better," Thailand's Charoen Wattanasin told the paper. "But it is not easy because many countries are reluctant to do so. They want to have their traditional sports in the Games. "The SEA Games should be a venue for young athletes to hone their skills for bigger events like the Asian Games and the Olympics," he said. The head of the Thai Taekwondo Association said that wasn't the case currently. "It is just for friendship and not for sporting excellence, so we are not sending our best athletes to the SEA Games," Pimol Srivikorn said. (Reporting by Patrick Johnston; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)