SEAG body to restrict hosts' sports choices<\/p>\n
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The South East Asian (SEA) Games Federation has agreed to
\nrestrict host nations' choices of sports to be included among the
\nmedal events in a bid to prevent gamesmanship, according to the
\nNational Sports Council (KONI).<\/p>\n
Vietnam hosted the SEA Games in 2003, and the Philippines will
\nhost the 2005 edition of the biennial regional sporting showcase.<\/p>\n
KONI secretary-general Djohar Arifin Husin said the
\nfederation, during a meeting last week in Manila, agreed to
\ndivide the sports into three categories, which would then be used
\nto decide their inclusion among the medal events.<\/p>\n
The ruling was taken with a view to keeping the SEA Games in
\ntouch with other multievent competitions such as the Asian Games
\nand the Olympics.<\/p>\n
The first category consists of track and field, and aquatics,
\nwhose inclusion in the SEA Games is compulsory because these are
\nclassified as Olympic sports.<\/p>\n
The second category consists of 35 sports that are
\ntraditionally included in the Asian Games. The federation ruled
\nthat the host nation should include at least 14 sports from this
\ncategory in the SEA Games.<\/p>\n
The third category consists of 14 sports that are not included
\nin the Olympics or the Asian Games, but which are popular in the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
This category will enable host nations to include their
\ntraditional sports, of the permittable eight, among the medal
\nevents of the SEA Games.<\/p>\n
The Philippines, for example, will include arnis, a
\ntraditional martial art from the country, when it hosts the event
\nin 2005.<\/p>\n
Djohar said this new policy, which will come into effect in
\n2007 when Thailand hosts the SEA Games, was meant to prevent host
\nnations, in a bid to top the medal tally, from choosing
\ntraditional sports that appealed to few people outside of their
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
\"To ensure the host of the 2007 Games complies with the
\nregulation, the federation has formed an ad hoc team to assess
\nthe proposed sport events,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The team will comprise five sports experts from five
\ncountries. Expected to be included on the team is Indra
\nKartasasmita of Indonesia, who heads the planning and budgeting
\ndepartment at KONI.<\/p>\n
The 2005 SEA Games has announced a tentative list of 34
\nsports.<\/p>\n
Tennis and weightlifting, which in the past have been gold
\nmines for Indonesia, are not in the list. These two sports
\naccounted for a combined eight golds in Vietnam for the
\nIndonesian contingent, which finished third in the medal table
\nbehind Vietnam and Thailand for overall medals.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/seag-body-to-restrict-hosts-sports-choices-1447893297",
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