Dance sport and rugby sevens have been reinstated as medal sports for the next East Asian Games, making a total of 23 sports when the games are held in Hong Kong in 2009.
'The two sports [dance and rugby] proposed at the meeting that they should be medal sports and not demonstration sports and it was accepted by the games' council after it considered all the related factors,' said Johnny Woo, chief executive of the 2009 East Asian Games yesterday.
'The inclusion of the two sports will not carry an extra burden in terms of organisation because, as far as budget and facilities are concerned they are already included in the games. Only their status has changed.'
With a total of 23 sports, which is six more than the last games in Macau in 2005, the number of gold medals also will also reach a record of 287 as decided by the games' rules and technical committee yesterday.
'It will be a bit hectic because the entire period for the games is nine days only,' Woo said. 'In Macau, they hosted only 233 events, also in nine days.
'Many countries want to increase their medal chances by increasing the number of events and that was accepted by the games' council, so we have to do our best to make it work.
'Hong Kong sports is very proud of its organisational skills and I am confident of putting on the best-ever East Asian Games.'