The nitty gritty of hosting the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Hanoi, Vietnam—originally set for November this year—will be discussed and finalized on Monday next week.
The SEA Games office, which will be represented by the 11 member countries, has set the Oct. 18 online meeting to tackle the specific dates and the calendar of the biennial meet projected to be pegged in May 2022, following its postponement.
“Most likely it will push through. We’ll know the details on the 18th,’’ said Philippine Olympic Committee president and Rep. Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino.
The federation will also talk about the participation of Thailand and Indonesia, two of three countries sanctioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for noncompliance of effective testing programs and noncompliance with the 2021 Wada Anti-Doping Code.
The meeting among SEAG bigwigs will be presided by Chaiyapak Siriwat of Thailand.
Based on the Wada decision, Thailand and Indonesia are barred from hosting any regional, continental and world tournaments together with North Korea.
Athletes from the three countries would be allowed to play in major international events but their national flags would not be flown during the competitions, much like what Russia was made to do in the last Olympics.
In the SEA Games, which was originally set from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2, athletes from Thailand and Indonesia might possibly play under the SEA Games flag.
According to reports, the postponement of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, supposed to be played in Bangkok early next year, might be due to the sanction Thailand got from the Wada.