SEAG sports in process of finalization

MANILA, Philippines —  A critical meeting among Southeast Asian Games Federation officials will be held in Bangkok on Sept. 29 to discuss the list of sports and events in the process of confirmation for the coming 11-nation conclave set in Manila, Subic and Clark on Nov. 30-Dec. 10 next year.  POC chairman Rep. Bambol Tolentino, POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio and Federation executive committee chairman Celso Dayrit will represent the Philippines in the conference hosted by Maj. Gen. Charouck Arirachakaran of Thailand.

The SEAG Federation Council approved an initial roster of 30 sports in a meeting in Manila last May.  The 30 sports are the two compulsory sports in Category 1 – athletics and aquatics, 27 from 44 Olympic and Asian Games sports in Category 2 and one from 22 traditional or indigenous sports in Category 3.  Under the SEAG Federation charter, a host nation must stage at least 22 sports to include the two compulsory sports, at least 16 in Category 2 and up to 12 in Category 3.  Another stipulation is a sport may offer medals in events not exceeding five percent of the total at stake.

The 30 approved sports are athletics, aquatics, archery, badminton, baseball/softball, basketball, billiards, 10-pin bowling, boxing, cycling, equestrian/polo, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, judo/jiu-jitsu, karatedo, sailing, sepak takraw/chinlone, shooting, squash, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling/kurash, wushu, arnis, dancesport and muay. 

The remaining sports in Category 2 are canoe, handball, hockey, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby 7s, soft tennis, table tennis, tennis, ice skating, ice hockey, cricket, chess, traditional boat race, pencak silat and petanque.  Softball was previously listed as a separate sport in the roster of 44 but was combined with baseball in the initially-approved list of 30.  In Category 3, the remaining sports are bodybuilding, bridge, e-sports, darts, fin swimming, floorball, lawn bowls, netball, obstacle course, sambo, skateboarding, shuttlecock, shorinji kempo, surfing, water skiing, vovinam, sport climbing and aero sports.  Surfing will eventually be elevated to Category 2 after it is introduced in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Bangkok meeting is a prelude to the next SEAG Federation Council conference in Manila on Nov. 23-24 when the list of sports and events will be confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Philippines Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) Executive Board got together for its latest monthly meeting at the Shangri-La BGC the other night with chairman Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano presiding.  PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, POC president Ricky Vargas, Tolentino, GSIS chairman Rolly Macasaet, Gregorio, PHISGOC planning/coordination executive director Tats Suzara and Philippine Sports Institute national training director Marc Velasco attended.

The Board reviewed the SEA Games budget of P7.5 Billion that was scheduled to be presented by Cayetano to the House of Representatives yesterday.  It also took up a report from Bases Conversion and Development Authority vice president and Athletes Village Mayor Arrey Perez that despite the recent typhoon, construction of the SEA Games facilities at Clark was hardly hampered, estimating a slippage of only -1 percent in the timetable.  The Board confirmed a gathering of the 11 Southeast Asian chefs de mission in three hosting hubs on Nov. 28-Dec. 1 to include attending the start of the SEA Games countdown at the New Clark City on Nov. 30.