KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's polo team may be jousting for domestic supremacy after being challenged by a Sultan on the sidelines of the Southeast Asian Games. The polo squad, which includes Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, has beaten Singapore 13-2 and Brunei 12-3 to open the SEA Games competition, which Malaysia is hosting.

The 41-year-old Khairy, juggling his duties as chairman of the Games organizing committee, is the first Southeast Asian minister to compete at the biennial event. But Khairy's selection for the games had earlier been questioned by the crown prince of southern Johor state, Prince Ismail Idris.

After Malaysia's second victory on Thursday, Johor state ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar accused Khairy of ordering a player to fake injury so that he could join the match against Singapore at the last minute for publicity. The sultan, 58, issued a statement on the Facebook page of a Johor team, the Southern Tigers, in a post titled "If you're a man, play against the Johor team."

To measure the Malaysian squad's real strength, Sultan Ibrahim said they must play against the team from Johor, where polo was first introduced in 1884. The sultan said his two sons, both skilled players, are prepared to take on the Malaysian team and that he may join, too. Sultan Ibrahim said he has played in the World Cup before and the ongoing regional games were "almost insignificant in comparison."

"I challenge the SEA Games polo team to come to Johor and show your fangs since the news of your greatness supersedes you," the sultan wrote, specifically extending the invitation to Khairy in his posting. "I will send two of my sons and two of our horse trainers or perhaps myself, as I believe I still have what it takes. Should my team lose, I will admit that the SEA Games team are represented by the best there is."

An aide to Khairy told The Associated Press that the minister is "unavailable" for comment. The sultan's post comes a month after his son, Prince Ismail Idris, was critical of Khairy selection to the national team. The prince, who is himself a skilled polo player, has questioned Khairy's competence and described him as an opportunist who wanted to use sports to boost his popularity.

The prince has also challenged Khairy to a match to determine who is more qualified to represent the country. It was brushed off by Khairy and by the national polo team, which defended the minister's competitive experience, fitness, and discipline. The Malaysian polo squad will face Thailand on Saturday.

Meanwhile, SEA Games organizers have given their strong backing to keeping home-grown sports like sepak takraw — as well as the policy of tailoring the program to suit the host country. The biennial Games, whose 29th edition is under way in Malaysia, are known for their distinctive regional sports and unashamed home-nation bias.

The hosts have topped the medals table at six of the last 10 editions, and Malaysia look set to finish top in Kuala Lumpur — for the first time since they last hosted the Games in 2001. The current Games feature only one Olympic champion, Singapore's US-based swimmer Joseph Schooling, reflecting Southeast Asia's struggles on the world stage.

But Games organizers said there were no plans to revise the SEA Games' approach of showcasing colorful regional pursuits such as pencak silat to focus more closely on Olympic sports. "The Olympic sports are very, very important, but some countries don't have facilities for many of the Olympic sports," said SEA Games Federation President Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar.

"So yes, we will certainly have Olympic sports where we want to do well in Southeast Asia... but we also have to cater for sports that are popular within the region."

Ball-juggling sport sepak takraw, played with the feet and a rattan ball, and the martial arts of pencak silat and wushu are among the disciplines that remain little-known outside of Asia. The current, 11-nation SEA Games also feature lawn bowls, petanque, Muay Thai boxing and figure skating among their diverse schedule of 38 sports.

"Sepak takraw is very much a regional sport and very popular, so we have to ensure that those sports are properly covered," Tunku Imran told the AFP. "And then you have to give some opportunity to the host country to win some medals."

According to the SEA Games charter, athletics and aquatics, which includes swimming and diving, are compulsory, and the hosts then choose at least 14 sports from a list of 38 which feature at the Olympics or Asian Games. The home country can also pick between two and eight sports out of 16 listed in a third category, which includes the Southeast Asian favorites.

"We try to do a balance of what's compulsory, what's on the program of the Olympic Games and Asian Games," said Low Beng Choo, secretary of the Games' sports and technical committee. "But we also give the host country an opportunity to choose the regional or the sub-regional sports that are good for the host country." — Agencies