The Malaysia National Selection of SEA Games 2019 was in chaos – Late schedule announcement, no budget for players and more

As SEA Games 2019 is fast approaching, State Qualifiers and National Grand Finals were held across Malaysia to decide the representatives. The five games that players will be competing in are DOTA 2, Starcraft II, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor and Tekken 7. However, there were some issues happened during the national selection events and participants have expressed their frustration across the social media.

Here is what happened:

• No budget for players – Players have to pay for their transportation and accommodation fees

We talked to Rambo Pang and he tells us that some state organizers don’t even receive the fund from KBS (Ministry of Youth and Sports) to send players over to Kuala Lumpur for the National Grand Finals. He also states that events are not well-organized, some states are getting online matches while some are offline. Some of the offline events require an entry fee, and some don’t.

• Late schedule announcement, no confirmation letter – Players faced difficulties in applying for leave

The Grand Final qualifiers are set on 29 and 30 April, but the schedule was only announced on 24 April. With less than 5 days left for the event, many working adults are unable to apply for leave (some workplaces require their workers to apply for leave 5 working days earlier). And without a confirmation letter, players don’t have a valid proof to support their leave application.

On this matter, Muhammad Farouq aka Flava (Head of Communications of ESM) expressed his opinions stating that many of the other sports don’t receive any fundings even though they have been around for over 50 years. He doesn’t see any reason that the government should treat the selection of eSports athletes special than the others.

We also reached out to Muhammed Farouq for comments:

Right now I don’t think I have anything to comment other than a sincere apology on behalf of ESM on the issues arising in regards to the National Selections for SEA Games.

What is your opinion about the issue? Tell us in the comment section below!

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