NAYPYIDAW — Refereeing decisions will not be a point of contention when Malaysia hosts the SEA Games in 2017.

The ongoing SEA Games in Myanmar has seen several controversial decisions, including the elimination of Singapore’s silat world champion Shakir Juanda from the men’s Match Class H (80-85kg) semi-final on Thursday after his Vietnamese rival Le Si Kien escaped punishment for punching the Singaporean’s face.

Malaysia’s double wushu world champion Ho Mun Hua also exited the Games without a medal after alleged scoring bias in the nanquan and nandao events.

But speaking at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Naypyidaw, Malaysia’s Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin insisted such controversies would not happen when Malaysia stages the 29th SEA Games in four years.

“We do not want the SEA Games to become something that the people continuously question,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysian daily New Straits Times.

“The SEA Games serves two purposes in terms of the sporting aspect and international relations but we cannot let unfair judging spoil it. We will ensure that the judging in Malaysia (in 2017) will be fair to an unquestionable level.”

It was unclear if Khairy had elaborated on how Malaysia plans to achieve that, but he urged athletes not to let controversial refereeing decisions affect them.

“It (bias judging) is nothing new. We have been through this a number of times before. We are aware of the situation but that is how competitions are like sometimes,” he said.

“There are times when the referee or judge does not make decisions in our favour. Anyhow, I hope the athletes will focus on their coming events.” AGENCIES