Football and polo kicked off the Thailand SEA Games, before its official start later this week. But if this was the prelude to the Games, than Thailand will need to up its game.
Vietnam and Laos kicked off their campaign in football only to find out that national anthems of both nations were not available for the pre-match ceremony.
Dr Gongsak Yodmani the Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand and the Secretary of the Thailand SEA Games Organising Committee was forced to issue a written apology for the blunder.
He pledged not to let the incident happen again. Yet it comes as surprise for a country that has already hosted the Games sis times before this.
But, that is not the only problem that Thai organisers need to seriously look into.
The official website has no updated news, neither for the football matches nor the polo matches. The results system only gives scores and no match reports.
These match reports are vital for the media to provide detailed media coverage. Journalists cannot be expected to be at all venues simultaneously to provide coverage for such multi-sports event.
And with more sports scheduled daily, it is going to be a nightmare for the media, especially fro other countries that are likely to send only a skeleton team to provide coverage.
For the record Vietnam defeated Laos 2-1 in their opening Group B match in football Goalscorers and their timings unknown!.
However, details of the Thailand goalscorers in their 6-1 defeat of Timor Leste was surprisingly available.
Yotsakan Burapha score a hattrick in the 45th, 71st and 72nd minutes while Siraphop Wandee (49), Iklas Sanron (60) and Kakana Khamyok (83) added to their tally.
Palamito Caffin scored Timor Leste’s consolation goal in the first minute of the second half injury time.
In the 2-4 goals polo Group A match, Thailand edged Brunei 7.5-7 while Malaysia defeated Indonesia 8-4.
Again that is all the information available on the official website and the Games Results System.
With just five days before the official start, the Games organisers need to step up quickly.
Meanwhile, Songkhla, which had already been dropped as one of the hosts city, is still carried as a venue on the website landing page
