Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) governor Gongsak Yodmanee had, earlier this week, blamed budget shortages for the various shortcomings just days away from the official opening of the SEA Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told a press conference that Thailand received just over two billion baht (USD 62 million) — far lower than the three billion baht (USD 94 million) Cambodia reportedly spent on the 32nd Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the record Cambodia spent approximately USD 120 million to successfully host both the SEA Games and the ASEAN Para Games in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leave aside whether the amount he cited that Cambodia spent was correct or not. The bigger question is as to why the hosts decided that they needed to host 50 sports when they did not have the budget to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the SEA Games Federation meeting prior to Cambodia 2023, Thailand together with Malaysia and Singapore had claimed that by hosting back-to-back Games, they would work together to set the standards for future Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had claimed that they would work hand-in-hand to streamline the events, broadcasting and other aspects to make the biennial Games more professional. But sadly that has not happened. Each of these host seems to be working in their own bubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was absolutely no compulsion for the Thailand to opt for such a big event, including so many non-main stream sports including three demonstration sports – air sports, flying discs, tug of war as well as woodball and a so-called \u201cvalue-added sport, mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All SEA Games hosts, as per the SEA Games charter, need to host only a minimum of 18 sports. Athletics and Aquatics are the only compulsory events, with a minimum of 12 other events from the list of Olympic and Asian Games events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hosts can also pick a maximum of 12 other sports from their Category 3 list that includes various traditional and non-main stream sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the decision to host 50 different sport was a choice that Thailand as the hosts decided themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bear in mind that the Thailand Olympic Committee had similarly wanted to host the 2024 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) with more events despite the lack of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just days after they announced that the AIMAG would go ahead, even without full funding from the government, the AIMAG was cancelled by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OCA had earlier also recommended a reduction in events to only 14, which the Thai government initially accepted to manage the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cancellation was made primarily due to unmet deadlines for budget approval, infrastructure readiness, and fulfilling host city contract requirements, despite multiple postponements and assurances from the Thai organizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the difference now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For one the oversight and due diligence strongly followed by the OCA was completely lacking with the SEAGF. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current Executive Committee Chair of the SEAGF is also the CEO of the SEAGF, Thailand\u2019s Chaiyapak Siriwat. He is also the vice-president of the NOC of Thailand and a key figure in the organisation of the event. Another Thai, Prof. Charoen Wattanasin is the vice-chairman. NOC of Thailand president Asst. Prof. Pimol Srivikorn is the SEAGF Council chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there is no question of impropriety from any of the three, the cosmetics does not look good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the SEAGF should relook at either changing their rules on rotation of the top positions of the SEAGF automatically going to the host nation at the end of each Games or to initiate a proper oversight committee to evaluate the preparedness of the hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the 2027 Games scheduled to be held in Malaysia, The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Norza Zakaria is expected to take over the helm of the SEAGF after the conclusion of the Games in Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SEAGF has to shed its current image and set-up as a group of friendly ASEAN nations getting together to host a so-branded Friendly Games every two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has to take a more professional approach. The SEA Games cannot just a be a Games that relies heavily only on respective government injection of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has to have a much stronger executive set-up comprising of full-time professionals to bring the biennial Games to the next level. The Games that started off as the SEAP Games in Bangkok in 1959 deserves a better future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Passing the blame on lack of government support or using other successful events as a shield to protect one\u2019s own shortcomings should stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SEAGF should take the responsibility of limiting the number of sports to be hosted at each games. Like the Olympics, the hosts could be allowed to propose a maximum of five sports to be included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increase the compulsory sports from two to include elite sports that are popular in the region including football, badminton, basketball, volleyball and table-tennis. Include martial arts, namely karate and taekwondo. Include traditional sports like sepak takraw and wushu. Include essential sports like gymnastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any extra event the hosts wants to include should not be at only at their whims and fancies but upon providing proper data. Details on why it should be included and how it can improve sports in the region?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ensure that all events are not only sanctioned by the respective International Federations with ranking points awarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Re-look at whether the participation at the Games should be limited as an Under-23 event in all sports. This would be provide better uniformity and help in the holistic growth and development of sports in region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current scenario where countries can pick and choose on whether to send their best athletes has only resulted in lop-sided competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Set qualifying standards for events especially in athletics and swimming at least a year prior, so that countries would strive to send better prepared athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hosting the biggest, most events, most athletes, most medals should never be what each host strive for. The SEA Games should not be about bragging rights, but about actual development of SEA sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SEA Games deserve better and the path to that must start immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
S.T. Arasu is a former two-time Malaysian Sportswriter of the Year<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) governor Gongsak Yodmanee had, earlier this week, blamed budget shortages for the various<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","category-opinion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games.jpg",930,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games-300x203.jpg",300,203,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games-768x520.jpg",640,433,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games.jpg",640,434,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games.jpg",930,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games.jpg",930,630,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a> Opinion<\/a>","tag_info":"Opinion","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sea-games.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6910"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6915,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions\/6915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}