S’pore backs ‘kampung’ sports for 2015

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SINGAPORE: Singapore’s 2015 Southeast Asian Games (SEA) Games organising chief yesterday rebuffed calls to standardise the tournament’s ever-changing list of sports and backed its strong regional character.

Lim Teck Yin acknowledged that the Southeast Asian event had been derided as the “Kampung (village) Games”, owing to its inclusion of home-grown disciplines like sepak takraw and vovinam, which often mystify outsiders.

But he said it was important to maintain Southeast Asian traditions, to engage local communities and develop sport in the emerging region.

“I’ve heard this argument before, that without some level of control like the Olympic Games, some of you have written that this became the ‘Kampung Games’,” Lim told reporters at a briefing.

“I don’t know whether my opinion matters or not … I would say as a participant in many SEA Games in the past, the SEA Games has its own flavour.”

Lim announced the 2015 tournament’s dates as June 5-16, but he said the list of sports to be contested would be kept under wraps until next year.

The list has previously proved controversial as it changes each edition, with local organisers often including obscure events in which they can win more medals.

Philippine Sports Commission Richie Garcia has threatened to boycott this year’s tournament in Myanmar in protest at what he calls manipulation of the events to favour local athletes, according to a local report.

At the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, the organising committee president said future editions should focus on Olympic sports to help the region’s athletes improve in world-recognised events. Lim would not discuss which sports are shortlisted for 2015, but he said there would be more than 30 disciplines with dragon-boating, netball and floorball – a form of hockey – among those under discussion.

“Some of the sports that you see in the SEA Games are very much sports that are centred around Southeast Asia. World champions are in Southeast Asia,” said Lim.

“Dragon-boating is an example. It’s not an Olympic sport but in Singapore, it’s big.” — AFP