SINGAPORE - Perses president Abdul Halim has pledged to investigate the sending of a letter of appeal addressed to Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng by nine national sepak takraw players.
In their e-mail on Tuesday evening (July 11), also sent to several other Members of Parliament, the nine sought clarification about their exclusion from next month's SEA Games.
In it, the signatories asked for "a full explanation" as to "why this traditional sport was struck out for this upcoming SEAG 2017? Was it really because of the lack in results for the past twelve months as stipulated in SNOC selection criteria?"
The players, including men's regu captain Farhan Amran, 36, claimed they had met the Singapore National Olympic Council's (SNOC's) selection yardstick - pegged at the third-place mark at the previous Games.
At the 2015 edition, Singapore's five-strong men's regu team won silver while the Republic delivered another seven sepak takraw bronze medals on home soil.
But Singapore Sepak Takraw Federation (Perses) president Halim, who was also part of the SNOC appeals committee which met on June 15, told The Straits Times that the players had not consulted him before sending the letter and that disciplinary action would be taken.
He added: "We're taking this matter very seriously. The players cannot undermine the authority and the proper SEA Games selection process.
"We've told them that it's not the end of the world. We've competitions lined up later this year, as we aim towards qualifying for next year's Asian Games."
On Wednesday (July 12), the SNOC reiterated that the players had not met the qualifying mark.
The SNOC, the selection body for major Games, said that in the 12-month period before next month's Kuala Lumpur Games, the players nominated by Perses did not win a single match at the competitions considered for Games selection.
"No players were selected as it was not clear that a third-placing standard could be established based on their results," noted an SNOC spokesman.
The SNOC had rejected a previous appeal by Perses on June 27. Sepak takraw, weightlifting and volleyball are the only three sports that will have no Singapore representatives at the Aug 19-30 Games.
Farhan said the e-mail was a "last resort" but "we just want to try".
"I'm confident that we can win a medal if we go," he insisted.
Team-mate Danial Feriza, 23, added: "Many of us have spent a lot of time training and made a lot of sacrifices for the SEA Games."
