SEA Games must be kept in perspective

Today's Sports News - Wednesday December 12, 2007

GRANDSTAND View

SEA Games must be kept in perspective

RAVIPAN PAVASUTHIPAND

As the 24th SEA Games edge closer to their conclusion, Thailand look certain to finish as champions once again after winning one third of all the gold medals awarded so far.

With four days to go, Thailand have already garnered more than 90 gold medals. Vietnam and Singapore are in a straight fight for second place while former powerhouses Indonesia have dropped back to a disappointing sixth.

With Vietnam fast-becoming a force to be reckoned with in the region, it will be interesting to see what the medal standings look like in Laos in two years time.

While the overall performance of the Thai athletes has been satisfactory, it is those off the field that have been worrying, both in terms of live coverage and awareness.

It's disappointing that the SEA Games don't get as much television coverage as they used to.

Daily coverage has been a few hours of live footage on two local channels.

I remember a time when the Games got full-day live coverage. The tournament back then was still very competitive and being able to watch all athletes competing against visiting teams was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately those days are long gone and I wonder how much live coverage they will get when it's our turn to host the Games again.

When I asked people around me about their knowledge about the Games some said they didn't even realise that the tournament was going on.

Some were able to catch a glimpse of it when they saw the sports report on the evening news while some didn't really care too much anyway.

I suppose that's the sentiment in Bangkok and maybe in some other provinces where the lack of public relations work in the build-up to the event have resulted in the present circumstances.

However in Korat people have seemed to have embraced the Games.

Fans have been queuing up to watch a lot of events, especially the popular ones like sepak takraw, volleyball and swimming.

There was even a short news report a few days ago with unhappy fans complaining because all the tickets were sold out and they couldn't get into the gymnasium to watch a sepak takraw match between Thailand and Vietnam. CCTV had to be set up outside the gymnasium so that people without tickets could see the match. That probably wouldn't have happened if the Games were held here in Bangkok.

Some have claimed that the standard of the SEA Games reflects on its popularity.

There is an argument that because we can see live sports from around the world we are spoiled watching world-class athletes day in day out. Maybe that's why people don't really care about the SEA Games and why it will be very difficult for them to regain their old status.

Maybe it's time for us to look at these Games and think they serve another purpose.

They do allow athletes from across the region to follow their chosen sports and have some fairly decent try-outs.

A lot of these countries would not invest anything in sport without the SEA Games as they know they can't compete at an Olympic level. Even worse, most of these athletes wouldn't qualify for the Olympics, so this is their tournament.

For Thailand, the stronger competition will come for our athletes in the Asian Games and that's where they can really improve themselves by training and competing against Asia's best. Then there is the Olympics where they can really put themselves to the test.

For Thai athletes, these Games represent a great stepping stone to higher-level competition. There's no point pretending we are going to get the very highest class of competition at this event, when we clearly are not.

We just need to accept that the SEA Games, which remain a great event, are not the ultimate goal for athletes. They never were and never will be.

Bangkok Post