PUTRAJAYA — The current economic challenges and the conflict in West Asia will not affect Malaysia’s preparations as host of the 2027 SEA Games, said Youth and Sports Minister Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari.

Despite adopting cost-saving measures in response to these situations, he said the standards and quality of the event will be assured to maintain the prestige of the biennial Games.

He said the savings measures include utilising existing facilities across the four main clusters for the Games, involving Sarawak, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur.

“We will not be spending large sums on constructing new facilities. Almost all the venues already have complete facilities and are ready for the hosting of the 2027 SEA Games.

“What is most important now is the improvement or upgrading of existing facilities rather than building new infrastructure that would incur higher costs,” he said in an exclusive interview with a Bernama team led by editor-in-chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj at the minister's office recently.

Sarawak will serve as the main cluster and the location for the opening ceremony of the Games, with 17 sports to be contested: aquatics, weightlifting, basketball, bowling, lawn bowls, e-sports, gymnastics, golf, cricket, archery, shooting, Muay Thai, petanque, squash, taekwondo, tennis and wushu.

The Penang cluster will host six sports: sepak takraw, snooker and billiards, judo, boxing, table tennis and floorball, while the Johor cluster will host only one event, football.