MANILA, Dec 3 — At least 11 sports events had to be postponed following reports that typhoon Kammuri had hit several areas in the Philippines.
The matter was confirmed by Deputy Chef de Mission to the 30th SEA Games, Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli, who said the postponement of the events was made following the advice of the Philippines’ authorities on the route of typhoon Kammuri.
He said the delay was still under control and the Philippine Sea Games Organising Committee (PHISGOC) also gave its assurance that the delayed sports events would be completed before the official closing ceremony on Dec 11.
“For the South Luzon and La Union (Solu) clusters, skateboarding, underwater hockey and polo were temporarily suspended. For the Clark cluster, the petanque event was postponed.
“As for the cluster in Subic, sepak takraw, canoe, kayak, traditional boat race, muay thai and wind surfing are temporarily suspended until further notice,” he said.
The postponement of the sporting event in Metro Manila only involved one shooting event, the “benchrest”.
On the fate of the national contingent which was stranded at the airports either coming to the Philippines or returning to Malaysia, Ahmad Faedzal said he had a contingency plan to deal with the situation.
“We have been in contact with Malaysia Airlines to ensure that tomorrow, all flights are operational.
I was informed that Malaysia Airlines may provide a bigger aircraft to accommodate our athletes or make additional flights.
“The same goes for the return flights. For example, the netball team should have already gone home but we made a little change to look after their welfare and will only allow them to return home once everything is safe,” he said.
Athletes who have yet to leave for Manila were from diving, athletics, rhythmic gymnastics and esports.
Apart from the netball team, athletes waiting to return home were the women’s football team, triathletes and the cycling teams. — Bernama
