Biggest ever SEA Games tackled in vital confab

The Southeast Asian Games Federation begins its two-day meeting today at the New World Hotel in Makati City with emphasis on the final list of sports and events in the 23rd staging of the SEA Games here.

The SEAG Sports and Rules Committee, chaired by Rene Adad, will meet this morning to discuss the final roster of sports and events, according to SEAG Federation president Celso Dayrit. The committee’s recommendations will then be tackled this afternoon by the SEAG Executive Committee, which will submit its decision to the SEAGFC for its en banc meeting tomorrow.

Thirty-four sports have already been approved in the first SEAGFC meeting here last March, but seven other sports are still lobbying for inclusion.

An addition of at least two sports will make next year’s staging the biggest in the SEA Games 45-year history. The 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta is the biggest so far with 36 sports and 490 events while the 1999 Brunei Games is the smallest with only 22 sports played.

Following the resolution passed by the SEAGF to maintain manageability of the games by reducing the number of events, the POC is expected to present only 375 events recommended by the concerned national sports associations.

However, it is expected that other NOCs will bat for the inclusion of additional sports and increase the number of events regularly played in the SEAG.

While the POC and Philsoc have the prerogative to propose the games’ program, the SEAG Federation has the authority to decide on the final list of sports and events to be played.

Dayrit explained that while the Federation may permit more sports to come in, the number of events must be maintained at a reasonable level to achieve cost efficiency in organizing the games.

"The SEA Games Federation understands the tight situation in the country and is willing to extend its cooperation in finding the right balance between the number of sports and the events to be played," said Dayrit on behalf of the federation’s 11 member-countries.