Monday February 2, 2004

SEA Games turn farcical as badminton, football are axed

BY RAJES PAUL

PETALING JAYA: Olympic sports, badminton and football, have been dropped from the list of events for the 23rd SEA Games in Manila. Instead, arnis, baseball, boxing for women, dance sports and triathlon (with duathlon) have been included in the preliminary list, as a perennial problem in the SEA Games surfaced again.

Manila, who will host the biennial Games in 2005, have also dropped several other Olympic sports like cycling, shooting, tennis and table-tennis. Other sports left out are karate, pencak silat, sailing, sepaktakraw and squash, which are popular in Malaysia.

The only good news for Malaysia is that tenpin bowling is making a comeback, but the hosts will be fighting for every gold medal in the sport.

The SEA Games have often seen hosts introducing obscure sports known only to themselves. And Manila is no exception. The hosts have decided to introduce arnis, a sport similar to the Indian martial art silamban but using a shorter stick, and dance sports with two events – Latin and modern dance.

The Vietnam Games last year saw bowling, golf and softball being shown the exit, and sports like chess, fin swimming, petanque, shuttlecock and sports aerobics being hosted instead.

The exclusion of badminton by Manila left BA of Malaysia secretary P. Ganga Rao flabbergasted. “This charade must end,” he said. “There should be a ground rule on this.”

FAM vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad was caustic. “The priority should be for major sports events, not weird events like shuttle-cock kicking and top-spinning,” he said.

However, the door is not totally closed for sports that have not been included in the preliminary list.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said the national sports associations could appeal to OCM.

“The associations can appeal to OCM before Feb 17. We will then submit our list to the hosts when a meeting to finalise the sports is held in March,” said Kok Chi.

“The Philippines Olympic Committee have named 22 sports but they are looking at a maximum number of 30-32 sports. There is still opportunity for several sports to be included. It depends on the other SEA countries. Some may even fight for the inclusion of petanque and handball.”

Besides the five sports that will make their debut in Manila, the other sports listed in the initial list are aquatics (without synchronised swimming), athletics, archery, basketball, billiards and snooker, tenpin bowling, chess, fencing, golf, gymnastics, judo, rowing and dragon boat, softball, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.

On the introduction of some new sports, Kok Chi said, “We cannot stop the hosts from introducing new sports. But the sport can be dropped if no other country participates. Previously, a maximum of three countries were needed for a sport to be contested. Now, we are looking at four or five,” said Kok Chi.

“Of the five sports introduced for the first time, Malaysia may take part in the dance sports and triathlon. We have taken part in triathlon (swimming, cycling and running) in Commonwealth Games and it is not so new to us.”

“But we are not likely to take part in arnis, baseball and boxing for women,” he added.

At the Vietnam Games last year, Malaysia had a medal haul of 44-42-59 and finished fifth in the overall standings behind champions Vietnam (158-97-91), Thailand (90-92-98), Indonesia (55-68-98) and the Philippines (48-54-75).

The preliminary list: 1. Aquatics (no synchronised swimming), 2. Athletics, 3. Archery, 4. Arnis, 5, Baseball (men only), 6. Basketball, 7. Billiards and Snooker (men only), 8. Boxing (men and women), 9. Tenpin bowling, 10. Dance sport, 11. Chess, 12. Equestrian (no three-day event), 13. Fencing, 14. Golf, 15. Gymnastics, 16. Judo, 17. Rowing and Dragon Boat (men), 18. Softball, 19. Taekwondo, 20. Triathlon (with duathlon), 21. Wrestling (freestyle only), 22. Wushu.

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