On July 13, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam approved the plan to organize SEA Games 31. The upcoming games will take place in Vietnam next year with 36 sports, held across 10 provinces.
Accordingly, SEA Games 31 will feature 36 sports including athletics, aquatic sports, gymnastics, rowing, canoeing/kayaking, football, shooting, archery, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, karate, wushu, wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, fencing, sepaktakraw, badminton, tennis, volleyball, basketball, handball, cycling, table tennis, billiards & snooker, golf, petanque, kurash, vovinam, chess, pencak silat, muay, bodybuilding, diving, and sports dancing.
The sports that have been cut include stick fighting, skateboarding, obstacle course racing, jiu-jitsu, sailing, soft tennis, triathlon, sambo, surfing, modern pentathlon, baseball, rugby, softball, and the sport that has garnered the most interest from the Vietnamese gaming community – eSports.
In light of this situation, Ramon Suzara – president of the Philippine National Sports Federation has stepped up to advocate for the return of eSports to the competition program.
“For the overall success of the SEA Games, it was us who brought eSports into the medal contention. Therefore, this sport needs to be present at the sports festival in Vietnam. There will definitely be negotiations regarding this. About 9 countries in the Southeast Asian region will participate in this campaign,” Ramon stated.
“I have learned that eSports is not recognized as a sport in SEA Games 31 and I am writing this letter to call for the support of member federations in advocating to include eSports in the competition of this event,” shared Sebastian Lau, Secretary General of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF).
At SEA Games 30, eSports was included in the competition with 6 disciplines: Dota 2, Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Tekken, StarCraft II, and Hearthstone. Vietnamese athletes brought home a total of 3 bronze medals.
From July 21-22, the Southeast Asian Sports Federation (SEAGF) will hold an online meeting to finalize the list of sports for SEA Games 31. A maximum of 4 sports may be added if supported by the majority of members.