DESPITE lingering concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s all systems go for the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games on May 12 to 23 in Hanoi and neighboring areas after being delayed for nearly six months.
“Our national athletes now have something to look forward to with the Vietnam SEA Games pushing through. Tuloy na ito,” national team chief of mission Ramon Fernandez said yesterday after he and 10 other counterparts attended a virtual meeting with Vietnamese organizers.
Aside from Fernandez, a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, roller sports chief Carl Sambrano and muay thai secretary general Pearl Managuelod also attended the meeting.
“It’s certainly a go for the SEA Games in Hanoi in May,” said Tolentino.
“Pre-Games formalities and timelines were presented, while soft copies of the Games manual were distributed to the members,” Tolentino said as the countdown to the Games started at 114 days last Monday.
With the entry by numbers done last January 12, Tolentino said Hanoi set a Feb. 12 distribution date and March 12 deadline for the submission of accreditation forms.
The deadline for the submission of entries by names, Tolentino added, is set for March 12, after which the chefs de mission will meet again, most likely face-to-face, on March 18.
“There was a general assurance by the Vietnamese hosts that the SEA Games would push through although they would continue to monitor developments of the COVID-19 virus in the region and update us on a regular basis,” Fernandez said.
The Olympic-style competition, supposed to be held last November, was postponed to May this year on the request of Vietnam due to the rising cases of the virus in Southeast Asia in mid-2021.
Vietnamese organizers said all of SEA Games participants must be fully vaccinated 14 days before their departure for Vietnam, and show proof, Fernandez said.
He revealed the POC had submitted the country’s entry by number last Jan. 12 consisting of 626 athletes in 39 of the 40 sports in the games calendar plus corresponding coaches and staff of the national delegation.
The Philippines is not competing in xiangqi or Chinese or elephant chess but is fielding athletes in bodybuilding which is making a comeback in the SEA Games after getting scrapped because of rampant doping.
While the formal opening ceremonies will be held on May 12 at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, hostilities kick off with football on May 6 in sites outside of Hanoi, with the football finals to be held at the 40,000-capacity arena on May 22. The closing rites will also be held at the same venue on May 23.
Vietnam will host the regional sportsfest for the second time, having hosted it first in 2003 in Hanoi and the Vietnamese seaport city of Ho Chi Minh.
Fernandez also said the PSC board led by Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez has approved the training of national athletes and coaches gearing up for the meet at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila and the Philsports Complex in Pasig City under bubble-type conditions.
“The board has already allowed bubble training both at Rizal and Philsports for athletes, who will be entering these facilities on a staggered basis,” he said.
He said they would begin with athletes and coaches in wushu, judo and wrestling at Rizal, while those in swimming and track and field can begin moving in at the Philsports Complex.
The boxers and karatekas are set to begin training at the Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City.
Other National Sports Associations have resorted to finding other training venues, with sepak takraw chief Karen Tanchanco-Caballero arranging for their athletes and coaches to work out at the Bulacan Sports Complex starting last Monday with the approval of Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando.
“We have advised these NSAs to look for catering services for the meals of their athletes and coaches whose expenses will be shouldered by the PSC,” Fernandez said.
