The first batch of Filipino athletes bound for the 27th Southeast Asian Games will leave for Burma (Myanmar) on Dec. 3 with the country’s wushu fighters kicking off the Philippine campaign on Dec. 6.
Chef de mission Jeff Tamayo yesterday said the early competition start was expected since the host nation has prepared long and hard to bring the biennial games on its turf for the first time in 44 years.
Boxing and basketball (men’s and women’s) will start on Dec. 8, wrestling, women’s football and pencak silat on Dec. 9, badminton, canoe-kayak and sepak takraw on Dec. 10 before the opening ceremonies of the Dec. 11-22 meet at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium in the Burmese capital of Nay Pyi Taw.
“Right now, we’re in the process of reconciling the final list and finalizing our schedule,” said Tamayo, the second vice president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.
Football will actually kick off competition in the Games, which Burma first hosted in 1969 in Rangoon (now Yangon), on Dec. 1. All told 15 out of the 33 sports will start before the opening rites.
Other disciplines to be played before the opener are water polo, men’s and women’s futsal, chinlone and floor ball, a demonstration sport.