KUALA LUMPUR: Having been demoted from category A to B for the upcoming Asian Games, Malaysia Rugby (MR) will look to reallocate funds, including from their junior programmes, to cover the costs to compete in Indonesia later this year.
The national body believed that they would be able to make category A following their gold medal success at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games last year, and a decent showing in the Asia Sevens Series where they came in seventh.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM), however, earlier this week announced a tighter, top-four criteria for category A due to financial constraints.
MR honorary-secretary, Jamaluddin Salim said the national body plan to appeal to be included in category A, though they are ready to pay their own way if the appeal is unsuccessful.
"At the moment we are in category B. We have decided to appeal to OCM and will be discussing the details of this appeal at our next Exco meeting," said Jamaluddin.
"Based on past experience, it will cost us roughly RM60,000 to RM80,000 to send a team there, so we have to be prepared with the necessary funds should our appeal be unsuccessful.
"At the moment there is no allocation for this, as we had expected to be in category A based on our results achieved last year. Whatever it is, we have to go and compete at the Asian Games because it is our main focus for the sevens squad this year.
"We will have to look at reallocating funds from our other programmes such as our under-18 (sevens) and under-19 (15's) squads to cover the costs."
The national squad, who finished second at the 2015 Sea Games, notched their first ever gold in the competition in Kuala Lumpur last year.
MR have set a target of winning the nations' first ever medal at the Asian Games in Indonesia this August.