KUALA LUMPUR  (Aug 15): The 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games in Indonesia, which was previously reported to be postponed following a strike by workers working on the main stadium for the Games, will be held in Palembang at the end of September.

This was confirmed today by Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary-general Datuk Sieh Kok Chi who recently received a letter on the
matter from the Games organisers.

The letter also stated that the main venue for the Games had been shifted from Riau Islands to Palembang, which was the venue for the 2011 SEA Games.

"The organisers were thinking that the venue in Palembang could still be used. If there is any arising issue, it will be discussed at the meeting of the contingent heads which is expected to be convened there (Palembang) at the end of this month," Sieh told Bernama.

Reuters had earlier reported that the Islamic Solidarity Games 2013 which was supposed to be held in June, had to be postponed after constructoon workers closed the main stadium in protest of not being fully paid their wages.

Sieh said the OCM agreed to send 112 athletes and officials to the Games in 13 sporting events as agreed upon at its meeting on Feb 27.

The events are athletics, swimming, archery, badminton, artistic gymnastics, karate, pencak silat, sepak takraw, taekwando, tennis, beach volleyball, weightlifting and wushu.

For the record, Malaysia were placed 7th overall in the inaugural edition of the Games in 2005 in Saudi Arabia after winning five gold medals, five silver and six bronze.

The second edition of the Games which was scheduled for 2010 in Tehran, Iran was cancelled by the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation when the host failed to provide appropriate facilities.

The idea of holding the Islamic Solidarity Games came about at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit in Putrajaya in 2003, which was agreed upon by the organisation's 57 member countries.