Finally, the biennial Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) have commenced as nations from distinct regions gather all the way to the Philippines to compete and fight for their countries.
This year, for the 30th edition of the SEA games, a total of 56 sports are contested.
8 years ago, the 2011 SEA Games held in Indonesia has only 44 sports in total held the record. Plus, each host country is able to choose the types of sports they wish to organize and the given number of medals in a particular category.
The SEA Games held this year consist of sports that are slightly new to the audience that makes us go wow! If you’re into sports articles, you definitely don’t want to miss popular posts like Jimmy John Shark.
Here are the 6 sports that we’ve found interesting and cool.
1. Dancesport
Say what? Although it might be a huge surprise for some viewers as to how dancing could be classified as a competitive sport, yet, it actually made its first appearance in the 23rd SEA Games in 2005, which was also the last time the Philippines were hosting. You can also spot this unusual sport few times in the year at the United Center.
This competition includes not just 1 or 2 types of dance styles to compete, however, a total of 13 dance genres including Latin American dances, standard dances, and hip-hop styles such as Quickstep, Slow Foxtrot, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Cha Cha Cha, Jive, Paso Doble, many many more and we can’t name all of them! We would love to congratulate our homeboy Lego Sam Lee Jek for competing in the breakdancing male category who danced his way to the gold medal, which is also Malaysia’s second gold right after Choon How in securing the first gold in Wushu. Taniah to both of you!
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2. Kurash
Kurash refers to a number of folk wrestling styles mainly practiced in Central Asia. It is a peculiar type of sport where wrestlers use towels to hold their opponents and throw them off their feet.
It first appeared as a competitive sport in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
While not many of our fellow netizen and Malaysians are aware of the sport, one of our athletes Fakhrul Adam Cruz won silver in the 90kg category at the 2019 SEA Games, that’s amazing!
3. Underwater hockey
Playing hockey underwater? Why not? Competing underwater is not easy, with snorkels, flippers, and using a 2kg hockey puck. This game was first invented by the British Navy to keep their divers in shape and improve efficiency underwater.
Similarly to its land-based counterparts, players are required to hit the puck into the opponent’s goal in order to score. This would be the sport’s debut in the 2019 SEA Games and 4 gold medals are up for grabs, the men’s and women’s 6-on-6 and 4-on-4 events.
Malaysia has a team for this competition, despite the sport being introduced as an official sport only 8 years ago.
4. Obstacle racing
Making its debut in this year’s SEA Games is a race where athletes will be relying on their technique, strength, and speed to overcome an endurance course.
There would only be 4 nations competing in the event, and Malaysia isn’t one of them. However, although the sport is making its debut in the SEA Games, there was an obstacle swimming event held in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.
At that time, only 12 swimmers from five nations competed.
5. Arnis
Arnis, also known as Eskrima or Kali, the sport originated from the Philippines and emphasizes on weapon-based fighting.
As you would expect, the Filipinos excel at this sport, snatching 4 gold medals in the men’s bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight, featherweight divisions on the first day of the 2019 SEA Games.
6. E-Sports
This year, E-athletes will go for gold in games such as Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, Tekken 7, and NBA 2K19.
E-Sports has become immensely popular, so much so that the Philippines think the SEA Games would reach a record number of global viewers by including competitive video games for the first time. You can even make money while watching by placing bets at Norsk Bonus.
These are a few sports in the SEA Games which are interesting but nevertheless, we are still proud of our nation’s athletes who are competing in some of them for the title of the best in the region.
We would also love to congratulate the winners of the SEA Games and couldn’t be more proud of them!
Header image: The Lowell | The Culture Trip | SunStar Cebu
