Debated in Parliament on 4 Feb 2013.
Mr Nicholas Fang asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether there has been any update on Myanmar's preparation to host the 2013 Southeast Asian Games; and (b) whether this will impact preparations by Singapore athletes gearing up for the Games.
Mdm Speaker, Myanmar will be hosting the Southeast Asian Games in December 2013. The last update from the Myanmar Olympic Committee (MOC) was in July 2012 at the SEA Games Federation Council Meeting. The delegates at the meeting toured facilities such as competition venues and the Games Village, which were still under construction then, but are on schedule for completion before the Games. The Council also deliberated on the sports to be included for the Games. Discussions are still ongoing, but the final list of sports will likely be confirmed at the end of the month. In fact, I believe there has been some convergence and they are probably already settled on the final list of sports.
Based on these preliminary discussions, the National Sports Associations (NSA) and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) have already been working together to prepare our athletes. This includes the setting of milestones and targets, scheduling of overseas training and competitions, as well as other specialised training to ensure that our athletes peak in time for the Myanmar Games.
Thank you, Mdm Speaker, and I thank the Acting Minister for the answer. I declare my interest as the President of two sports associations, and a member of the National Olympic Council. The issue we tend to face with the SEA Games is that the sports list tends to be decided from country to country, with the inclusion of some interesting choices that may not feature in the Olympic list of sports. This has resulted in the problem where athletes are preparing year by year, or two years by two years. As Singapore moves towards a more professional pathway of sports development, what can we do as a country, as a member of Southeast Asia and a member of the Games, to create greater visibility for athletes preparing for such competitions in the future? And also, as a future host of the Games in 2015,
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in terms of preparing to host these Games, are there measures that we can put in place or views that we can push to ensure greater visibility for all parties concerned?
The hon Member would be aware that at the SEA Games level, the selection of sports is done by the SEA Games Federation Council. And all ASEAN members are represented on the Council by their National Olympic Committees. We are represented by the SNOC. At the SEA Games Federation Council level, our SNOC has always taken the stand that the sports that are included in the SEA Games ought to be games that are Olympics-level or Asian Games-level types of sports. We have always taken that stand. Within the SEA Games framework, the Council allows for traditional games to be included into the Games as well. The host country, sometimes, will include some of these games. Indonesia, in the last SEA Games, included a traditional martial arts sport; Myanmar this year has proposed chinlone, a game that is something like sepak takraw and it is going to be included in the Games, as I understand.
Within that framework, what we can do is to continue to maintain our position to advocate for SEA Games-level sports to include games that are at the Olympic and Asian Games-level. With that base of sports, our athletes will have quite a number of opportunities to participate, excel and do well in these sports. Within the SEA Games context, there will always be a few traditional sports that will be included. We recognise that and that is part of the SEA Games spirit.
When we host the Games in 2015, we will maintain our same position, that we want the Games to be of a high level. And we would want to have, as far as possible, within the SEA Games that we host in 2015, sports that are at the Olympic and Asian Games-level.
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