18 January 2001

Ask me if God is real in my life & I'll say "Check out the News below" & tell me if God doesn't open the Red Sea today?!!!!! A miracle of miracles....a blessing of blessings & grace of all grace! I'm so overwhelmed! Just as He was telling me the night before "Stand still and see the salvation of God" and that "Without faith it is impossible to please God" I stood firmly on the grace ground, believing hard & resting hard on His promise. It came to pass, just as He told me! This is my God...who never wavers and changes!!! Only two extra events for KL SEA Games KUALA LUMPUR - The decision of the South-east Asia Games organising committee yesterday to include only two additional medal events in this year's SEA Games has brought a host of reactions. Some were happy, some were sad and some were nonchalant about the decision. According to Bernama, only two events out of the 39 requested - one each in yachting and weightlifting - were approved for inclusion in the Kuala Lumpur Games. The two events are the women's Mistral One boardsailing (yachting) and women's weightlifting (up to 69kg). An elated Low Teo Ping, SingaporeSailing president, said: 'We have a couple of women sailors, Toh Lee Ching and Rachel Ng, training full-time with the hope that there would be a women's category. 'Now, that has come true and we are very happy. 'With our Chinese coach Qian Hong on board with us, we have good chances for medals. It's only a question of colour. 'Hopefully, when it's nearer the date, we can tell you the colour of the medal.' In contrast, the Singapore Bodybuilders' Federation, which had been eager and ready to send athletes to compete for eight gold medals, was disappointed that the sport's appeal was turned down. The weightlifting fraternity, on the other hand, was nonchalant about the inclusion of an additional medal event. Said Tom Liaw, pro tem president of the Singapore Weightlifting Federation: 'We have not decided on sending any women lifters, so it does not really affect us. 'Anyway, the lifters have to be prepared and ready to compete at the SEA Games level, otherwise it would be pointless to send them there.' Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, chairman of the organising committee, said: 'We approved only these two events after considering the time constraints. 'Today's decision is final.' He added that the decision was taken after considering various factors such as the Malaysian athletes' chances of winning medals, as well as organising costs and preparation. He said: 'As it is rather late, I think our decision to accept only two additional events is already fair to all.' But try telling that to Paul Chua, president of the SBBF. He said yesterday: 'I'm disappointed. 'I believe Singapore has lost a chance to win a few gold medals, because we have been winning things in the region. 'But the Singapore National Olympic Council did its best and we are not going to cry over it. 'We are looking at better horizons such as the Asian Games next year, which is our main target.' With the inclusion of the two events, the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games from Sept 8-17 will have 390 events in 32 sports.

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