He said he expected more names to be thrown into the hat this week, and would pick the suitable candidate after holding discussions with the selection committee for the biennial games.

“Together with the committee, we will decide who we deem fit based on the stipulated criteria and announce the deputy CDM in the next two weeks,” he said in a statement.

Earlier, Hamidin set up his secretariat team comprising officers from the Olympic Council of Malaysia, National Sports Council and National Sports Institute to make early preparations for the games, which will be held in Hanoi.

The secretariat met at Wisma FAM today and also discussed their roles and responsibilities.

“We will identify the overall total of the national contingent once all the teams have confirmed their respective team managers in the near future. For now, we already have the date for the flag handing-over ceremony but it will be confirmed later,” he said.