Vargas sets SEA Games timetable

MANILA, Philippines — POC president and Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) co-vice chairman Ricky Vargas yesterday revealed key hallmarks in the timetable leading towards the staging of the 30th SEA Games in three hubs on Nov. 30-Dec. 10 next year.

The first is the coming June 13 deadline for the SEA Games Federation to receive suggestions from the 11 participating National Olympic Committees on additional sports for the 2019 calendar which now has a list of 30. Vargas said the final list will be confirmed in the next SEA Games Federation council meeting in November.

The second is the launch of the 2019 SEA Games logo, slogan and mascot in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in August. The launch may be in Metro Manila or Clark in Luzon, Cebu in the Visayas and Davao in Mindanao. Vargas said he plans to announce the logo, slogan and mascot in a marketing push for the SEA Games before the start of the Asian Games in Indonesia on Aug. 18. The third is the SEA Games countdown at the New Clark City, one of three hubs for the event with Metro Manila and Subic the others. The fourth is the trial run of the track oval and the 2,000-seat Aquatics Center at the New Clark City in July next year. Construction of the oval, Aquatics Center and a 20,000-seat Athletics Stadium is now ongoing under the supervision of project builder MTD. The fifth is the full completion of the New Clark City facilities by October 2019 in time for the opening of the SEA Games at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena in Bocaue.

SEA Games Federation executive committee chairman and former POC president Celso Dayrit said the deadline to submit suggestions for additional sports was initially set on June 30 but since the letter to the SEA Games Federation Council specified an earlier date on June 13, it will mean more time for deliberations. Under SEA Games rules, a host country must stage at least 22 sports. At the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, there were 404 events in 38 sports. Vargas said the next SEA Games could feature up to 44 sports.

Dayrit said it’s not the prerogative of the host country to decide which sports to include in the SEA Games. Instead, he called it an opportunity to promote certain sports where the host nation has an advantage. Dayrit noted that four countries must commit to participate in a sport for its inclusion. He said the SEA Games are the most dynamic and largest regional competition in the world with 11 nations acting like a family in alternating host nations to allow for the development of their athletes.

There are three categories for sports in the SEA Games. Category 1 consists of the compulsory Olympic sports of athletics and aquatics. Under aquatics, the compulsory disciplines or events are swimming, diving and water polo with synchronized swimming an option. Category 2 is made up of Olympic and Asian Games sports with a minimum of 16, up from 14. The SEA Games Federation recently increased the sports in Category 2 from 36 to 44 with the elevation of dancesport, pencak silat, ice hockey, petanque, muay, chess, ice skating and cricket.

Category 3 sports are traditional or indigenous.  In past SEA Games, Category 3 sports were a minimum of four and a maximum of eight but for the next edition, the Federation increased the limit to 12. The sports that were recently added in Category 3 for consideration in the next SEA Games include aero sports, e-sports, darts, obstacle course, surfing, skateboarding and sambo. In the initial list of 30 approved sports for the next SEA Games, arnis made it under Category 3 while jiu-jitsu was added as an event under judo. Dancesport and muay were also in the list of 30.