Palembang working on hassle-free SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - While Palembang, the main hub of the 26th Southeast Asian Games, offers a walk in the park, Jakarta could provide the hassles for the thousands of participants as well as the media.

With less than two months before the event set Nov. 11-22, organizers in Palembang, a resort city that will host 20 of the 42 sports on tap this year, have ensured everyone of a smooth ride.

Palembang has built new facilities for this SEA Games, including a massive complex that will house all the delegates, and a 15-storey operations center that will include the main press center.

The complex is just 10-15 minutes away from the venues for aquatics, athletics, baseball, billiards, boxing, bridge, chess, fin swimming, gymnastics, petanque, roller sport, sepak takraw, shooting, softball, tennis, volleyball, sport climbing, waterski, weightlifting and wrestling.

Ninety percent of the facilities are new, including those for water sports and tennis, according to Philippine delegation chef-de-mission Julian Camacho and secretariat member Clarito Samson.

“It’s also very ideal for newsmen covering the event because the venues are close to the main complex and the official hotels,” he said during a press briefing yesterday afternoon.

In contrast, the venues in Jakarta pose a serious problem when it comes to accessibility.

Events on tap in Jakarta are archery, badminton, basketball, bowling, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, judo, karatedo, open-water swimming, paragliding, pencak silat, rowing, sailing, kempo, table tennis, taekwondo, traditional boat race, vovinam and wushu.

“In Jakarta there will be 22 different venues and 22 different hotels for the 22 different sports unlike in Palembang where they are all centered in one venue,” said Camacho, the former chief of Philippine wushu.

The venues are quite a distance from each other, and considering the traffic in Jakarta, which at worse can take you an hour to travel just one kilometer, getting from one point to another could be a nightmare.

“In Palembang, you can move from one venue to another in 10 minutes. It’s more comfortable,” said the chef-de-mission, adding that as of yesterday, there are 409 athletes and 145 officials representing the Philippines in the biennial event.