WHETHER the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games will push through our not in November will be known during an online meeting of the SEA Games Federation Council today, according to Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
“We will know the fate of the Vietnam SEA Games (today). Hopefully, we will have good news after the meeting,” Tolentino said yesterday of the virtual session among the 11-nation federation set to be held at 2 p.m.
“The SEA Games is the only item on the agenda of the council meeting so it is a very important one,” noted POC secretary general Atty. Ed Gastanes.
The Philippines, led by Tolentino, and seven other countries have tried to persuade Vietnam to proceed with the meet scheduled on Nov. 21 to Dec. 2 in Hanoi. The Vietnamese organizers had requested that the games be postponed to next year because of the rise of COVID-19 cases in their country.
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor Leste opposed the move while Myanmar, owing to its internal problems, sided with Vietnam. Cambodia, the 2023 host, remained neutral during the last emergency council meeting two weeks ago.
The opposing countries cited the stacked scheduled in 2022 that includes the Asian Games, Asian Indoor Martial Games, Winter Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games as the reason.
Tolentino said he would conduct an online the press conference shortly after the meeting to announce the fate of the Vietnam Games.
To add “a little suspense,” the POC chief also declared that he would also announce during the same briefing the country’s standard-bearers to the Tokyo Olympics and the Vietnam SEA Games.
