32nd Sea Games: Cambodia promises to feature most events in history, but with a catch
POC President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino during the week’s SEA Games Federation meeting. | Photo from the POC
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Cambodia will host the most extensive Southeast Asian Games in terms of events, according to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).
The 32nd SEAG, which is tentatively scheduled from May 5 to 16, 2023, will be held in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
In total, Cambodia announced 608 events in 49 sports disciplines in the biennial meet which was held last May in Vietnam for its 31st edition that was rescheduled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s the biggest SEA Games in terms of events, but one that will potentially benefit the host country, according to POC President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
It is mainly because Cambodia is imposing new sets of rules favoring its athletes.
According to Tolentino, Cambodia will impose a rule wherein it could field in a hundred percent participation in combat sports or martial arts while limiting the others to vie in 70 percent of the events staked in the sport.
“That benefits the host best, while putting at risk our chances for the medals,” Tolentino said.
Tolentino was the most vocal among members of the SEA Games Federation meetings who were against the particular rule, but the Cambodians, he said, took the cue from the 2017 Games in Kuala Lumpur when Malaysia imposed a similar regulation.
“Our athletes should focus harder and train more to get to the podium,” said Tolentino.
He stressed the country’s back is against the wall to retain its fourth-place overall finish at the 31st Vietnam SEA Games last May.
Tolentino said that Cambodia also initially excluded the 50-kilogram class in women’s Kumite of karate but was prevailed upon to reconsider.
If excluded, this will jeopardize the participation of Filipino-Japanese Junna Tsukii, the current World Games champion and a former gold and three-time SEA Games bronze medalist in the event.
Cambodia has also exercised its privilege as host, including two native sports—Kun Bokator, a martial art practiced by the ancient Khmer military, and Ouk Chatrang, a Khmer chess game.
In its addition, it offers 27 gold medals in total.
Also conspicuous, Tolentino added, were the fewer gold medals in artistic gymnastics. It will only have four gold medals—two for each gender—in artistic gymnastics, whereas, in the Olympics and world championships, these programs have eight for the men and six for the women.
“Gymnastics alone means several potential golds our world champion Caloy [Carlos Yulo] won’t have a shot at,” Tolentino said.
Tolentino also noted two sports that Cambodia and Vietnam are strong at—Vietnamese martial art Vovinam with 30 events and Fin Swimming with 24 events.
The POC and PhilCycling plan to look deeper into the list of sports events featured in next year’s 32nd SEAG before they come up with the Philippines’ final list of entries. They want to emphasize potential full participation in terms of the number of sports.
“We have time to analyze Ouk Chatrang and see if our athletes can perform well in the sport,” said Tolentino.
In the 2019 SEAG, the Philippines featured 530 events in 56 sports, while Vietnam had 526 events in 40 last May. In record, Brunei hosted the least events, with 233 in 22 sports in 1999.
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