Ramos opens first EAGA Games

Ramos opens first EAGA Games

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (Reuter): President Fidel Ramos formally opened the first East Asian Growth Area (EAGA) Friendship Games on Thursday, bringing together 700 athletes from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Ramos flew to the southern city of General Santos to launch the three-day competition, saying they were intended to expand "our relations beyond just economic co-operation and trade to people-to-people interaction."

EAGA is a so-called growth area linking remote islands of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to Brunei.

The games will involve competitions in track and field, badminton, basketball, swimming, soccer, archery and sepak takraw, a badminton-type game in which a rattan ball is kicked by players.