Courtesy: Sun Star


Futsal in '07 Seag but RP won't benefit

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

By Henry C. Villalva

CHESS and arnis will not be played in the 24th Southeast Asian Games (Seag) next year in Thailand.


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This means another minus factor for the Philippines which won three golds in arnis last year in Manila during the country's hosting of the 23rd SEA Games.

But it won't be a consolation that futsal (indoor football) has been included in the 41 sports approved by the SEA Games Federation Council during its recent meeting in Thailand.

Former RP men's national football team standout and current West Negros College varsity coach Norman Fegidero, Jr. told Sun.Star Bacolod that even with the inclusion of futsal in next year's

Seag in Thailand we cannot expect to benefit from it because "the Philippines is still far behind in terms of futsal development when compared to countries like Thailand and Malaysia which

started futsal much ahead of us."

"I believe we still have a long way to go in futsal if we hope to be at par with our Asean neighbors," Fegidero said.

The other approved sports events for next year's Seag are athletics, archery, badminton, basketball, baseball, billiards & snooker, bowling, handball, hockey, boxing, canoeing, rowing, cycling,

equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, judo, and karate-do.

Also included were rugby, sailing, windsurf, sepak takraw, shooting, softball, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, dance sport, lawn bowl, Muay Thai, petanque, pencak silat and

traditional boat race.

The inclusion of softball is however seen as a small consolation for the Philippines which is considered a softball power in the region.

Chess and arnis are considered as a gold mine for the country, notwithstanding the poor performance of the country's top chessers in last year's SEA Games.

Arnis, which is considered as an indigenous Filipino martial arts discipline, contributed three gold medals during the last SEA GAmes in Manila.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com