Brunei Handball Federation
Honorary Secretary Lt Col (Rtd)
Zainal Arifin Zainuddin (4th L)
and Vice President Kifli Hj Jaafar
(5th L) at the meeting at
Songphanburi Hotel in Suphanburi,
Thailand.Picture: Courtesy of
Lt Col (Rtd) Zainal Arifin Zainuddin

The Southeast Asian Handball Federation (SEAHAF) will appeal to the South East Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) for the inclusion of handball in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

This was revealed during the SEAHAF General Assembly, held in Suphanburi, Thailand, from August 3 to 5.

Honorary Secretary of the Brunei Handball Federation (BHF) Lt Col (Rtd) Zainal Arifin Zainuddin said that the SEAHAF urged its member to request each member country to support this proposal through respective National Olympic Councils.

Zainal was joined by BHF Vice President Kifli Hj Jaafar at the meeting at Songphanburi Hotel in Suphanburi. "Regarding the meeting, all the member countries of the federation agreed to the idea of including the handball sport in the SEA Games, we under the newly formed, Brunei Handball Federation (BHF) will give our full support for handball to be included in the SEA Games by offering the technical support staff," said Zainal Arifin

The Honorary Secretary is also hopeful that these outcomes would give greater impetus to all handball enthusiasts in the Sultanate, assuring the development of the sports in the country.

As a newly-formed federation, the BHF intends to send two referees and four committee members to attend the SEAHAF Referee and coaching training on September 23-29 in Thailand.

"The BHF is currently focusing its capacity building within its committee members and therefore will not be participating in the SEA Handball Championship in Thailand, however we will be sending referees and the committee members of the federation to attend the courses there."

The representative of each participating country at the meeting Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and host country, Thailand also voted for Dr Sombat Kuruphan, who is also the Minister of Tourism of Thailand to remain as President of the federation. "It was a very good meeting between the member countries in SEAHAF, there is solidarity in the federation where every country is helping each other to develop and promote the sport in the region," added Zainal Arifin.

Courtesy from Brunei Times