SEA Games woes set aside at opening ceremony

It took just two hours to wipe away a week’s worth of bad headlines as the Philippines rolled out the welcome mat for South-east Asia’s finest athletes last night.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared the 30th SEA Games open at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena, which is 30km north of Manila, in a colourful opening ceremony that showcased traditional and contemporary Filipino culture.

The build-up to the Games had been chaotic, with organisers coming under fire for a range of issues that included transport delays, accommodation snafus and insufficient food for athletes.

With criticism in both social and traditional media, and local and foreign press highlighting the problems, it was hardly the image that Mr Duterte’s government wanted to project.

Things have not been helped by the impending appearance of Typhoon Kammuri, which is forecast to make landfall on Tuesday and threatens to disrupt the event calendar.

But all these woes were forgotten last night – at least temporarily – as the country welcomed the region’s athletes for the first time since 2005.

The ceremony had lights, music and dance and left the capacity crowd in a festive mood, smiling, dancing and waving the Philippine flag enthusiastically.

The athletes’ parade was done in the style of a religious pageant, complete with beauty queens as muses of the participating countries.

Boxing world champions Manny Pacquiao and Nesthy Petecio lit the cauldron at the newly built athletic stadium and aquatic centre in New Clark City, Tarlac province.

At the opening ceremony, organising committee chairman Alan Peter Cayetano paid tribute to the athletes, saying: “In them we see passion, sacrifice, discipline, teamwork and respect – everything we need to build a better world. Today, we stand tall and tell the world that in South-east Asia, we are passionate… we are believers in teamwork and we firmly believe that everyone deserves our respect.”

Singapore was represented at the opening ceremony by a contingent of more than 50 athletes and officials that included squash player and flag-bearer Samuel Kang.

The 28-year-old told The Sunday Times: “It was quite nerve-racking at the start, but after five seconds, it was very exciting. It’s such a great feeling when you’re leading the whole contingent out and seeing the crowd and everyone so happy to be here.

“(Being flag-bearer) is awesome, it’s such a rare opportunity.”

A record 56 sports will feature at the Games until Dec 11, with about 11,000 athletes expected to be in action in three main clusters – Manila, New Clark City and Subic Bay.

Team Singapore is represented by 666 athletes.

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