56 new sports requested by POC in SEAG

FILE: SEA Games Council Executive Committee chairman Celso Dayrit (extreme left), reports to POC officials from left clockwise, Communications Director Ed Picson, Secretary General Patrick Gregorio, PHISGOC Director Tom Carrasco, President Ricky Vargas & Chairman Bambol Tolentino. (Photo: Olympic.ph)

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is conversing the inclusion of 56 new sports in the upcoming 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG).

POC Spokesperson Ed Picson shared that the committee will have a very important meeting on November 22-25 to discuss the Philippines’ responsibilities as host of the competition’s 30th edition.

There was already an initial approval in Bangkok during the POC’s visit in Thailand, relying on the meeting later next month to finalize the list of sports. “That’s when we are going to determine how many events (gold medals) will be contested,” he shared with the Manila Bulletin, “These are sports that will be considered given the tradition in hosting the SEAG.”

POC President Ricky Vargas also earlier stated, “I look forward to the final approval of these recommended sports this November.”

Some of the sports the POC is hoping to have approved include vovinam, floorball, and indoor hockey.

The already confirmed sports in Category 1 include Athletics and Aquatics.

Category 2, which still seeks approval, includes archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiard sports, bowling, boxing, chess, cycling, dance sports, equestrian/polo, hockey (indoor), fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, ice skating, judo, karatedo, modern pentathlon, muay, pencak silat, rowing, rugby 7’s, sailing/windsurfing, sepak takraw, shooting, softball, soft tennis, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, traditional boat race, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, petanque and surfing.

SEAG’s Category 3 awaiting confirmation lists arnis, E-sports, jujitsu, kickboxing, kurash, lawn bowls, obstacle course, floorball, sambo, skateboarding, underwater hockey, and vovinam.

The games are to be set in both Metro Manila and Capas, Tarlac. Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia are just some of the participants that Team Philippines can expect to perform well at SEAG, previously encountering them at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.