SEA Games 2022: For a Stronger SouthEast Asia.
Every 2 years, countries of South East Asia comes together to play sports together in the name of bonding and collaboration. We will introduce the sports to be played this year.
The SouthEast Asian Games, otherwise known as the SEA Games, is a major multi-sport event happening every 2 years in the ASEAN region. Started to encourage ties within the region through sport, it’s now a major highlight for athletes in the 11 countries involved in the games.
In its 31st edition this year, SEA Games is known for having a whole different lineup of sports each edition depending on the host. In terms of priority, Athletics & Aquatics are compulsory, followed by sports competed at the Asian & Olympics Games with the remaining sports to be hosted ranging from the region’s traditional sports or new emerging sports of the world.
SEA Games 2022 is hosted in Hanoi with the theme of “For a Stronger SouthEast Asia”. We will be introducing the sports that will be played in Vietnam this year. Officially there are 40 sports, but we split them into 49 sports across 9 categories.
The 9 Categories
This classification of 9 categories is devised by OhkaySports and seems suitable for the variety of sports competed for SEA Games 2022. The categories are defined separately with the style of sport and skill-types alongside formatting of results and how winners are determined.
1. Goal-Scoring Sports
Category 1: Goal-scoring sports. These usually are team sports involving balls, points are scored through getting the ball/puck into ‘goals’, with the side with the higher score winning.
The sports this year are: Basketball, 3v3 Basketball, Futsal, Football, Beach Handball & Indoor Handball.
Notable omissions for 2022: Netball, Floorball, Hockey, Rugby, Water Polo
2. Athletic (Faster, Higher, Stronger)
2: Athletic (Faster, Higher, Stronger) Finswimming, Swimming, Athletics, Canoeing/ Kayak, Mountain biking, Road cycling, Rowing, Triathlon, Weightlifting. Winning is either by faster timings or meeting higher scoring marks in terms of distances, heights or weights.
Notable omissions for 2022: Sailing
3. Target Sports
In such sports, athletes score points by accurately using equipment to hit either stationary or moving targets. Athletes that achieve highest scores win, either in a ranking table or head to head knock out format.
Sports: Archery, Bowling, Petanque, Shooting
4. Point based
Racquet sports, Keeping the ‘medium’ off the court. Scoring done by keeping the medium in play within set boundaries. Points gained determine sets won which determines the match’s results.
Badminton, Sepak Takraw, Table Tennis, Tennis, Beach Volleyball, Indoor Volleyball
Notable exception: Squash
5. MindSports/ESports
Games of mental and technical skills less than physical skills, arguably.
Chess, Xiangqi, Esports.
Notable exception: Bridge
6. Course/Objective based
Win by completing a course in the least number of moves or completing objectives within the athlete’s turn.
Billiards, Golf.
7. Performance only
Points determined by judges. Highest points win. Seems subjective to the layman, and sometimes arguable results for judging.
Diving, Bodybuilding, Dancesport, Aerobic Gymnastics, Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics.
Notable exceptions for 2022: Artistic swimming, Equestrian, Surfing
8. Combat Sports
Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Kickboxing, Kurash, Muaythai, Wrestling. Win the fight within the rules or win by points awarded during the fight. Outcomes for points & penalties are determined by a judge and technical jury.
9. Performance and Combat sports
Wushu, Pencak Silat, Taekwondo, Vovinam.
Sports with both combat and performance events.
Context: Team & Individual, Number of Medals
Team Sport
Team sports make up less than 10 sports in the list, with 2 medals on offer for each event – Men’s Team and Women’s Team event. These sports are the popular ones, familiar amongst the general population with high participation rates across the region, but in terms of medal count, they contribute little to the tally. Examples include football, basketball, sepak takraw, volleyball etc.
For the athletes too, any win or loss is collective and any medal won would be shared by the team. This is a point to make as the context of each medal, the experience of each athlete is different partially due to the sport they are involved in. Thus, it’s easy to lose track of these details when individual honours are given to specific athletes or when news headline choose to focus on number of medals, highlighting individuals.
Team Events
Other than team sports, a significant of events on offer are team events. These can be where athletes can both compete individually and also as a team. They range from events like synchronised diving, badminton doubles, rifle team events, beach volleyball, to the athletic & swimming relays and Silat Trios in performance events.
Some team events are calculating the total scores of individuals and comparing between teams, whereas others depend on the individuals combining at play. Team events prevents the domination of specific athletes as well as promotes the beauty of teamwork and synergy, showing better the depth of the country’s best at these certain sports. Athletes that utilise the same skills at their own individual events as team events then are given multiple shots at earning a medal, whereas we also see specialists in team events, especially those that train as doubles or pairs throughout their careers.
Individual Events
The remainder would then be on individual events, where each individual would be given the full glory for his or her own effort. There would be athletes in sports where you get 1 individual event, 1 shot at it to make all your training worth its while. This is obvious in the combat type of sports, where one could finish his/her Games journey in 1 first bout of the knockout round. Other examples are the field events in athletics. Most athletes representing in individual events fall into this category, being the specialist and top representatives of their country in their event.
For some others, they get to participate in Team events on top of their individual competitions. They appear in events like Badminton Singles, Bowling Individuals, Fencing, Esports, etc.
Lastly, the final categories where ‘Superstars’ are made: Individuals that participate in multiple individual events as well as team events. The prerequisite for athletes winning multiple medals is that they have to be participating in multiple events. Only in certain sports do we see this phenomenon: Swimming & track events in athletics are the most obvious, with different distances, different strokes and medleys in swimming, with the relays being added in. Actually, it will be a surprise if the athlete that ends the SEA Games with the most medals isn’t a swimmer.
Best Athletes of SEA Games 2022 Hanoi
The best athletes, awards as given out by the games organisers, were awarded to 2 athletes in swimming and 2 athletes in athletics – track.
Undeniably, winning multiple medals seem more impressive than winning 1, with the golds adding to the clout and credibility of being a top athlete. Yet, each sport is different, each event’s context and athlete’s journey are different too.
Keeping that in mind allows us to look beyond the numbers, the scores and appreciate the sporting performances that are put in by each athlete ‘For a Stronger SouthEast Asia’.
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