SEA Games: here we go again

This writer has been warning for months that the organizers of the Bangkok Southeast Asian Games would have tricks up their sleeves that they would reveal at the last minute. True enough, Thailand announced that naturalized players would be ineligible for the basketball competitions, at least for 5x5. This means that some of the country’s best players like Justin Brownlee and Ange Kouame will not be allowed to play. Frankly, the rule itself is not that bad. But the timing of implementation is an abuse of the hosts’ discretion.

We have had multiple bad experiences in SEA Games in Thailand. The two-pronged attack is always the same: messed with the sports that involve judging, and water down the opposition through tightened, last minute eligibility requirements. It is a tired, old, unfair story.

After the wild success of the 2005 Games in the Philippines, Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand won the rights for the 2007 SEAG. Things started to get funny right away. Dancesport, which had only the traditional Standard and Latin events that were swept by the Philippines in 2005, was suddenly judged per dance, making  a total of 10 gold medals available. Needless to say, the Thais made sure they would get favorable scores. Two of their own athletes, Surathep Wisawathiron and Panaporn Kosol were disqualified because they were caught doping, an embarrassment under any circumstance.

At the height of super typhoon Uwan, this writer was in Baguio City to interview the national women’s boxing and muaythai teams. The common question we asked was how they would deal with the outright cheating in scoring in Bangkok. Although far from definitive, the reply was always the same: dominate early, or knock out the opponent.

“We have to make sure that there is no doubt about the outcome of each fight,” explains women’s team head coach and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Roel Velasco. “We already know how things go in Thailand. We don’t want to leave the decision in anybody else’s hands.”

The Thais have a right to be worried. The Philippines is fielding world champions and Olympians in many disciplines like jiu jitsu, boxing and muaythai. They are using the full extent of their prerogative as the host country to limit opponents’ chances of winning, hence the belated ruling on naturalized basketball players’ eligibility. They have excluded billiards and arnis (again), and limited participation in boxing for this very reason. For decades, they have struggled to overcome the might of the Philippines in basketball. It’s gotten personal.

Time and again, we have called for a change in the host countries’ privilege to choose events and decide on eligibility. It is always abused, and used to threaten referees, judges and other technical officials to skew towards the host. Why even have the Games at all if they aren’t going to be fair? Might as well just buy yourselves a whole bunch of medals, because you’re not fooling anyone. You’re just breaking the hearts of athletes who’ve given their all in the hope of bringing honor to their countries fairly.