Naniniwala ang isang Malaysian sports official na magagawa ng Pilipinas na ibulsa ang overall championship sa 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games kung saan host country ang bansa.
Ayon sa dating secretary ng Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) na si Datuk Sieh Kok Chi, gagamitin daw ng Pilipinas nang husto ang home advantage gaya ng ginawa ng Malaysia noong 2017.
Parehong diskarte raw kasi ang ginawa ng Pilipinas at Malaysia kung saan binabawasan o dinadagdagan ang bilang ng events pabor sa host nation.
“Being the host, Malaysia had certain advantages, which were maximised by the Organizing Committee,” wika ni Chi.
“For example, the Diving events were increased from the normal 8 events to 13, Track Cycling events were increased from the normal 8 events to 13 and Pencak Silat events were increased from the normal 14 events to 20 events. In addition, the events of a number of sports, such as Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Weightlifting, were reduced by half.”
Maglalaban-laban naman aniya ang Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia at Singapore sa ikalawa hanggang ikaanim na puwesto.
Maaalalang noong 2017 ay itinanghal na overall champion ang Malaysia na bumuslo ng 145 gold medals.
“What happened in 2017 did not go un-noticed and was quickly picked up by PHILSGOC (sic),” ani Chi.
“As such, the 30th SEA Games Sports Program has some rather lopped-sided (sic) events, such as Diving with only 4 events, Track Cycling being totally deleted and Pencak Silat reduced from 20 events to 9 events only . . . The Malaysian Contingent has lost 50 gold medals due to the non-inclusion of many events as well as the dropping of a number of sports and disciplines (6 to be exact) from the 2019 Sports Program.”
“As such the Malaysian Contingent should be quite satisfied, if it can finish in 4th position in the 30th SEA Games.”
