SEA Games: Focus on games, not problems, sports personalities urge

By Jan Carlo Anolin

Several sports personalities urged the public to continue supporting the Filipino athletes amid the accommodation and venue fiascos hounding the 30th Southeast Asian Games days before the opening ceremony.

Workers rush to finish the football field at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila ahead of the 30th SEA Games. (MB Photo / Ali Vicoy)

In a statement released by the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), Alejandro Baldo Jr., former midfielder of Azkals U-22, Chris Tiu, former captain of Gilas Pilipinas, and Anton Cayanan of the Philippine badminton team, took their concerns on social media regarding past experiences in international competitions.

Baldo recalled that his football squad needed to push a double-decker bus in the middle of the road en route to their hotel in Bangkok during their tuneup game against Thailand in the AFC U-22 Championship qualifiers in 2012.

“Dahil wais tayong mga Pinoy, imbis na magalit at magreklamo, ginawa na lang natin ‘to sa pinakamasayang experience.”

Baldo stressed that the athletes and public should focus on the games rather than the problems, mostly on transportation and food.

“Problema sa pagkain kasi paulit-ulit, problema sa transpo at kung anu-ano pa. Lahat po yan ay napagdaanan ng mga atletang Pinoy ‘pag tayo po ang dumadayo sa ibang bansa.”

It can be recalled that the Thailand Football Association complained about the repeated and limited amount of food.

Let Dimzon, Philippine women’s football team coach, also requested more decent meal for the athletes after being served a combination of rice, egg and kikiam for breakfast. Malaysian coach Joseph Jacob shared the same sentiment.

Chris Tiu, former Rain or Shine point guard and Phisgoc volunteers head, cited the “inevitable” hitches and inconveniences he encountered before.

“Sports is certainly a great platform to inspire the youth, promote good values and unite a nation. Let us not use it to divide us,” Tiu wrote on Instagram.

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Exciting times ahead as we are 6 days away from the official Opening of the 2019 SEA Games! This time I am not participating as an athlete but as a member of the organizing committee. And I am very honoured to take on this challenging yet rewarding role of serving our country. Now I appreciate all the people, the hard work and planning that goes into hosting an event of this magnitude. Inevitably there will be hitches and inconveniences. And I’ve personally experienced many of them as a delegate before. Rest assured, the team will address and continue to find solutions to achieve the goals. As one country, let’s cheer on our athletes and support our organizing team who have been working extra extra hard to make our country proud! Sports is certainly a great platform to inspire the youth, promote good values and unite a nation. Let’s not use it to divide. Good luck to our athletes!! To our volunteer workforce, Thank you so much!! Let’s have fun and make our country proud! We Win as One! Laban Pilipinas! #wewinasone

A post shared by Chris Tiu (@chris_tiu17) on Nov 24, 2019 at 3:54am PST

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The Philippine badminton team, together with the billiards squad, also experienced the same problems during the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Cayanan recalled.

Cayanan said the team had to wait hours at the airport and was brought to the wrong hotel. The waiting game wasn’t over after that as they had to stay put several hours more before being escorted to the right lodging.

The Philippine badminton team, hungry and tired, anticipated buffet service upon arrival but Cayanan said the food trays only provided limited ration. The services, eventually, improved the following days.

“Para sakin lang. Hindi naman talaga maiiwasan na magkaron ng pagkukulang minsan. Kaso ang masakit [t]ayo tayo na namang [P]inoy ang talagang nagpapakalat pa.”

Aside from food and transportation, the preparation for the venues also drew flak in social media.

One of the football venues, the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, images showed, remained unfurnished hours before the opener between Malaysia and Myanmar on Monday.

Source: Manila Bulletin