30th SEA Games Grand Opening in Manila Rallies Asian Athletes, Culture & Country to Come Together as One
Manila, Philippines — THE 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, hosted in the Philippines from Nov 30 to Dec 11, is expected to be the Brightest Cultural spectacle amid glitches in the past days.
Marking its 60 years since the inaugural games in 1959 held in Thailand, then called as the Southeast Asia Peninsula (SEAP) Games, this will be the 30th edition of the games.
The 30th SEA Games will have the highest number of Athletes & sports events in the history of the games, a total of 56 sports, consisting of 530 events with more than 10,000 athletes and officials from ASEAN countries has arrived, coinciding with the first major decentralization in the history of the games, with competition venues spread in 23 cities across the country.
This is notable since it will be the first edition to include e-sports and obstacle course, along with chess and underwater hockey as demonstration sports.
The opening ceremonies of the games was held at the Philippine Arena, known and recorded as the biggest indoor arena in the world owned by the Iglesia Cristo/Church known as a Shining Beacon of Faith in the 21st Century that rose in the Philippines in 1914.
Over 55,000 people or more attended and much of the spectacular extravaganza were digitally controlled, including the lighting of the flame.
Eleven competing Southeast Asian nations arrived in big delegations, to produce some of the most outstanding achievements, inspired by their best ever performance in the Olympics 2016 Game in Rio where they bagged 18 medals: Five golds, 10 silvers and three bronzes.
Malaysia for example recorded its best Olympic performance in Rio, winning three silvers in badminton, a silver in diving and a bronze in cycling.
In a bid to host the next SEA Games Olympic Council of Malaysia president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakariasaid the country would send a contingent of 1,063 to participate in 52 sports.
