2019 Southeast Asian Games: 5 Things You Should Know About The Biggest Edition Yet

Today, with a purpose of promoting cooperation and enhancing relations among the countries in Southeast Asia, the games are participated in by 11 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

The SEA Games trace its roots to the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games in 1959, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand. In 1977, the peninsular countries decided to include the rest of Southeast Asia, marking the beginning of the Southeast Asian Games.

The multi-sport event takes place every two years. For its 30th edition, the SEA Games will be held in the Philippines. There will be a total of 56 sports and 530 events, making it the biggest SEA Games yet in terms of the number of sporting events.

The 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are about to begin! From 30 November to 11 December, thousands of athletes of different sports from all over Southeast Asia will compete for medals and awards. Most importantly, these athletes will wave their respective flags and bring pride and honour to their home countries.

Before the much-awaited games begin, we’ve rounded up facts about the SEA Games you should know:

2. Fourth time in the Philippines

This year is the Philippines’ fourth time hosting the SEA Games. The first hosting took place at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in 1981, which was built primarily for the regional meet.

The SEA Games was, again, held in the country after a decade in 1991 and again in 2005.

3. ‘We win as one’

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Photo: Courtesy of 2019 SEA Games via 2019seagames.com

The official slogan and theme song of this year’s SEA Games is “We win as one”, penned by Palanca-award winning writer and director Floy Quintos, the music was composed by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, and sang by Tony awardee Lea Salonga.

Read More: Why Lea Salonga Is The Philippines’ National Treasure

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Photo: Courtesy of 2019 SEA Games via 2019seagames.com

In line with the theme, the 2019 SEA Games is represented by its bubbly and playful mascot “Pami”, who depicts the unity and cooperation of every nation, sport, and person supporting each other at the games. The name comes from the Tagalog word “pamilya”, which means family.

4. Biggest SEA Games yet

The 30th edition of the SEA Games is the biggest yet in history in terms of number of sporting events. There will be 56 sports, with an estimated 8,750 athletes and team officials; 2,050 technical officials, 1,500 press and media attendees; 12,000 volunteers, and targeting more than 500 million views.

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Inspired by Mount Pinatubo, the stadium’s open roofline was designed to resemble a crater

The main hub of the multi-sport event will be in Clark (Northern Philippines) with the creation of the New Clark City Sports Village, while the secondary hub will be in Subic Bay Freeport Zone with the Tertiary Hub in different areas in Metro Manila.

Read more: The Athletics Stadium and Aquatics Centre Rise In New Clark City

5. Newly introduced sports

The sports are divided into three categories: “Compulsory Sports”, “Olympic and Asian Games Sports”, and “Regional and New Sports”. The compulsory reports include athletics and aquatics.

New sports that will be debuting this year include e-sports, which will offer medals across six online games namely Dota 2, Tekken 7, Starcraft II, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, and Hearthstone.