The calendar of events of the 2021 Southeast Asian Games will most likely be scaled down.
Philippine Olympic Committee president and Tagaytay Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said this after learning that organizers in Vietnam have slashed the budget allocated for the 31st SEA Games and the 11th ASEAN Paragames.
“Baka may konting disappointment dito dahil meron na hindi na makakasama na events. Baka hindi na payagan ang ibang sports,” said Tolentino.
Because on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Vietnamese has redirected its resources, including its financial allocation from the biennial sports meet.
According to reports, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has made plans to host these events in the Hanoi and surrounding provinces.
And an organizing committee has been set up last February and was supposed to hold its first meeting involving members of the SEA Games Federation Council in March or April.
But lockdown measures and quarantine protocols set up by many countries kept this from happening.
“We might just have a virtual meeting on this,” added Tolentino, who believes that combat and contact sports events, will not be allowed in the Games because of the need for physical distancing.
On the other hand, non-contact events will most likely be included.
Reports said that Vietnam has cut down on its expenses for the games by more than half to 1 trillion VND (US$42.5 million), which is about 900 billion VND (US$ 38.2 million) less than the original budget.
The expense to upgrade facilities for the events has also been brought down from 805 billion VND to 600 billion VND (US$34.2 to US$25.5 million).
It will be the second time for Vietnam to host th eSEA Games, slated from November 21 to December 2, 2021.
On the other hand, the ParaGames, the 10th edition in Manila of which had to be scrapped, will run from December 14 to 21, 2021.