With the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ravaging the sports world, Vietnam, host of the 31st Southeast Asian Games, is set to cut the number of events down compared to the Philippine-hosted games a year ago.
After a record-breaking 56 events, Vietnam submitted just 36 events for its hosting. This, as the budget of the country for the Games has been slashed due to the pandemic.
Of course, mandatory events athletics and aquatics will still be the showpiece of the biennial meet.
Also included in their initial list are aerobics, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards, bodybuilding, boxing, canoe-kayak, chess, cycling, dancesport, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, kickboxing, kurash, muay thai, pencak silat, petanque, rowing, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, vovinam, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and wushu.
The 20 events that will not be carried over gave the Philippines 58 golds.
In a report by Joey Villar of The Philippine Star, POC president Bambol Tolentino said that he will try to lobby the addition of events like arnis, triathlon, sambo, and obstacle course.
“We will lobby for those events that we’re strong at but were not there like arnis, triathlon,” Tolentino told The Philippine Star.
“Other nations may lobby for sambo, so I might include in the appeal [for an] obstacle course.”
The Philippines grabbed 149 golds last year, while Vietnam had 98.
