SEA Games loophole  

It’s May, and the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games are a mere week and a half away. Many are aware of the great leeway allowed host countries to add and subtract events as they see fit. They can say that they don’t have the appropriate venues, the schedule won’t allow it, they can’t allocate the manpower, and so on. But the most dominant underlying reason is simple: they wouldn’t win.

To give an example, in 2019 the Philippines hosted the SEA Games and won the overall title. The total haul was 149 gold medals, 117 silvers, and 121 bronzes. Vietnam finished second with 98 golds, 85 silvers and 105 bronzes. Now, with most of the same successful athletes and adding Olympic experience, the country considers merely placing in the top three as “doable” or “hoping for the best.” Seems like a pretty big drop-off, doesn’t it?

This is the scary part. The host country can insert sports that may be demonstration sports, but it can also include sports that are immediately classified as medal sports, no questions asked. As long as four countries can participate (because there has to be a battle for third in all sports, and many sports have two bronze medalists), the sport can push through. (The same is true for heavier weight classes in combat sports.) Obviously, if only four countries participate in a sport, then the quality is not as good.

Take the example of the Indonesian martial art Tarung Derajat. This intense combat sport was first acknowledged as a national sport by the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) in 1998, and has had major participation in 34 provinces in that country. Practitioners include military generals and high government officials. In early 2011, this writer was invited to a convention on Tarung Derajat in Bandung, about a four-hour drive from Jakarta. Less than six months later, it was introduced at the 26th SEA Games in Palembang. Needless to say, the hosts swept the competition. The Philippines itself dominates arnis and other sports in its own SEA Games. If you look at how the Philippines and Vietnam fared in 2019, now the roles are reversed, and Vietnam can par their results.

This right, however, also creates another loophole. What if the newly-included sport does not have a recognized national federation in a SEA Games Federation member country, or no federation at all? That opens the door to members countries skirting the rules and putting together a fly-by-night team just to go after a few medals. And what about drug testing? Will these new sports get tested as frequently and as rigorously as the more regular sports? If the host country wants to win in their signature events so badly, maybe the athletes fall through the cracks in this regard. Let’s bear in mind that events of this size are spread out over multiple venues, some in far-flung places. Who can police them all?

The Southeast Asian Games Federation has to sit down and create clearer parameters for this. As it stands, a host country can add its own sports, games and pastimes with impunity and give itself a substantial edge in the medal tally. Then, all these sports will simply disappear from the calendar of the next SEA Games. No continuity, no defense of gold medals won. Just a quick grab of a higher rung on the overall rankings ladder. It’s flawed, and that’s putting it mildly.