Underwater hockey to make SEA Games debut in Manila

PETALING JAYA: Two obscure sports – obstacle course and underwater hockey – will make their debut at the Philippines SEA Games next year.

The hosts are offering a record 56 sports from Nov 30-Dec 11 although they can host a minimum of 22 compulsory sports under the South-East Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) charter.

In obstacle racing, six events will be featured – two events each for 100m with 10 obstacles, 400m with 12 obstacles and 5km with 20 obstacles.

Underwater hockey, also known as Octopush, is played at

the bottom of a swimming pool with two teams competing to manoeuvre a puck with a hockey stick into the opposing team’s goal.

The other sport making its entry into the Games is eSport while the other obscure sports in the programme are arnis, jiujitsu, kurash, sambo and floorball.

The previous record was 44 sports when Indonesia hosted the SEA Games in 2011.

National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail said the increase of obscure sports is considered the Philippines’ strategy to become overall champions in the biennial Games.

“The Malaysian contingent’s success of becoming the overall champions at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games should not be used as a yardstick at the Philippines edition,” said Shapawi.

“The target for the 2019 SEA Games should be realistic.”

Malaysia were the overall champions at the last Games with a haul of 145-92-86 but their chances of repeating the feat would be difficult as the hosts have also decided to cut down on several events.

Shapawi said that 434 athletes and 95 coaches from 27 sports have been identified for the first phase of SEA Games training.

“Based on the initial list of sports released by the Philippines Organising Committee (Philsoc), we will lose a number of gold medals as sports that we are good at will not be contested this time.”