Muslim-majority Malaysia has abruptly cancelled two under-22 football friendlies against Myanmar to protest at the bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.
The national football team announced via Twitter Wednesday that the December 9 and 12 matches in Yangon had been cancelled but did not elaborate.
Malaysia has recently upped its criticism of Myanmar over its handling of the crisis.
Officials from the Football Association of Malaysia could not be reached for comment but a senior Malaysian sports official told AFP yesterday that the cancellation was a "political decision".
Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Razak in a speech strongly condemned the violence against "our Muslim Rohingya brothers" in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar.