Vietnam plans to postpone 2021 SEA Games, refusal to appear

Eight of the 11 countries participating in the 2021 SEA Games have rejected the postponement of the biggest multi-sport event in Southeast Asia.

The pandemic situation, which is currently still insurmountable, threatens the continuity of one of the major sporting events, namely the 2021 SEA Games which is planned to be held in Hanoi. This is due to the increasing number of cases of transmission of the virus in the country.

COVID-19 cases in Vietnam are currently on the rise since late April 2021 to reach more than 9,500 cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In the past week, new daily cases exceeded 200.

Several cities that had been appointed to host the 2021 SEA Games were also badly affected, including Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang in Northeast Vietnam.

In fact, one of the stadiums that was planned to be used for badminton at Bắc Giang has now been converted into a COVID-19 Emergency Hospital.

As the host, the Vietnamese government has informed the participating countries of their plan to postpone the 2021 SEA Games from November 21-December 2 to mid-2022.

“The Vietnam Olympic Committee, the host of the SEA Games, has sent a letter to the countries to inform the proposal to postpone the SEA Games from 31 to July 2022 due to the complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said. Channel News Asia (CNA).

“Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region, it is the hope of the Vietnam Organizing Committee to host the 31st SEA Games in a safe and secure manner.”

Although it was done with good intentions, eight of the 11 member countries of the Southeast Asian Games Federation rejected Vietnam’s proposal. They object because they have a fairly busy sports schedule in 2022.

Indonesia joins in rejecting the postponement of the 2021 SEA Games

Sapta Oktohari SEA Games 2021 — King Sapta Oktohari | Credit: Media Indonesia

Of the eight countries, Indonesia is one of them who refuses if the 2021 SEA Games should be postponed until next year. The chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (NOC), Raja Sapta Oktohari, explained several reasons.

“We object if the 31st SEA Games is postponed to 2022 because the budget for this year’s SEA Games has been allocated and there must be accountability for the budget. If it is postponed to 2022, there is no submission for next year’s budget,” said the man who is familiarly called Okto as quoted from SindoNews.

“In addition, this postponement will result in the next SEA Games in Cambodia in 2023 being only one year apart,” he said.

Besides Indonesia, ESPN in detail revealed that the countries that participated in rejecting the postponement of the 2021 SEA Games were the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor Leste.

In addition to other things behind it, the postponement of the 2021 SEA Games will certainly make esports fans heartbroken because they cannot watch their respective national teams compete with each other to make the nation’s name proud.

According to the latest news, a total of 10 gold medals will be up for grabs in the esports branch at the SEA Games 2021. The games planned to be competed are League of Legends, FIFA 4, CrossFire, Wild Rift (male-female), Arena of Valor, PUBG Mobile (team-individual), Free Fire, and Mobile Legends.