The sports disciplines of jiujitsu, esports, triathlon and bowling have been added to the calendar of the 2021 Southeast Asian Games.
Their inclusion was confirmed yesterday by Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino following talks with organizers in Vietnam.
Tolentino believe that adding these four events will be beneficial to the country’s bid to remain as the biennial event’s overall champion.
Because of this, the number of events to be held in the biennial meet has reached 40.
And they will now be calendared for the Games when it’s held from November 21 to December 2 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for the second time after 2003.
“This is good news for us because we dominated three of these four sports when we hosted the games in December 2019,” Tolentino said.
It will be recalled that Filipino athletes ruled jiujitsu with five gold medals and esports with three.
On the other hand, the Philippines swept all three events in triathlon.
Tolentino said he will keep on seeking the inclusion of baseball/softball, soft tennis, duathlon, windsurfing and wakeboarding/water skiing.
The country also ruled these events in 2019.
