The Covid pandemic has dealt another blow to Malaysia's top university athletes with the postponement of the World University Games (Universiade) and the Asean University Games (AUG).
The Universiade, initially scheduled to be held in Chengdu, China, on Aug 18-29, has been pushed to June 26-July 7 next year.
The AUG, at Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand on Dec 13-22, will be delayed till July 26-Aug 6 next year.
On the local front, the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) has postponed the Higher Education Institutions Games (SUKIPT).
SUKIPT, scheduled to be held earlier this year at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, has been moved to Aug 15-23 next year.
MOHE head of sports section Dr Pekan Ramli said the postponement has caused a selection problem due to the university students not competing in sporting events for more than 18 months.
"SUKIPT is our biggest local sporting event for varsity students, and this is where we identify athletes who will compete in the Universiade and the Asean Games. The postponement has caused a selection dilemma.
"This is because the international events will be held before SUKIPT. A handful of university students are national athletes. Their performances can be gauged through the regular international tournaments they compete in.
"But we will have to find other ways to select other representatives for the Universiade and the Asean Games.
"We probably have to organise some internal competitions to identify athletes for the events," said Pekan.
To ensure varsity students are involved in some form of sporting activities, the Malaysia University Sports Council (Masum) have come up with 11 programmes, beginning with the Virtual Martial Arts tournament on Sept 10-21.
This was followed by an online chess tournament on Sept 20 while the Virtual Lawn Bowls Cup was held from Sept 27 to Thursday.
Masum also organised the Virtual Orientering on Oct 2-3 while the Masum Esports Championships will be held on Oct 8-17.
The other events lined up for varsity students are Open Online Chess (Oct 30), Virtual Cycling Challenge (Nov 6-10), Virtual Sepak Takraw (Nov 20-21), Virtual Archery (Nov 26-28), Virtual Football Carnival (Dec 1-5) and Sports Development Seminars (Dec 7-9).
