Chess has been confirmed as one of the sports at the ninth ASEAN Para Games due to be held in Kuala Lumpur next year ©APSF

Sixteen sports have been confirmed for the ninth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Para Games in Kuala Lumpur next year, with the list including chess.

The Games in the Malaysian capital are due to begin on September 16, two weeks after the completion of the Southeast Asian Games, and will conclude on September 23.

The ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF), the regional governing body, has endorsed chess as one of the sports to be contested in the week-long Games following its Executive Committee and Board of Governors (BoG) meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

Sailing, originally proposed to be included as one of the 16 sports by the Local Organising Committee (LOC), has been taken out of the Games.

Events and disciplines to be contested in each sport will be finalised at a later date, after consultation with International Federations and technical delegates from the respective sports.

Chess is considered as one of the most popular sports within the ASEAN Paralympic movement, and was included based on expression of interest (EOI) findings conducted by the APSF.

The Kuala Lumpur 2017 Games, the third edition to be hosted by Malaysia, will see the largest number of sports contested since their inception in 2001.

Singapore hosted 15 sports last year while Myanmar 2014 featured 12.

Sixteen sports have been listed with specific events and disciplines to be finalised at a later date ©APSF
Sixteen sports have been listed with specific events and disciplines to be finalised at a later date ©APSF

Next year's Games are expected to feature more than 350 events, with the participation of close to 3,000 athletes and officials from all 11 ASEAN nations including provisional member Timor-Leste.

The full members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Archery, athletics, badminton, boccia and cycling have all been confirmed on the sporting schedule, alongside both five and seven-a-side football.

Goalball also made the cut with powerlifting, sitting volleyball and swimming on the programme.

Table tennis, tenpin bowling, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball complete the list.

The Singapore Games were hailed as the "best-ever" in the history of the event by the APSF.

Thailand finished top of the medals table with 95 golds in an overall haul of 250.

Malaysia were third behind Indonesia, taking home a total of 147 medals, 52 of which were gold.