FROM May 5 to May 17, 11 competing countries—Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—will participate in the 32nd season of the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).

The opening ceremony is scheduled on May 5, this coming Friday, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, despite the chess, cricket, and football tournaments that already began last Saturday, Apr. 29. The SEA Games will hold a variety of sports such as sailing, hockey, jiu-jitsu, boxing, e-sports, tennis, volleyball, basketball, billiards, and more. 

At the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presided over the send-off ceremony last Apr. 24 for the Philippine team traveling to the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia. There are 840 athletes and 300 coaches in the delegation from the Philippines. Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go as chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Chairman Richard Bachmann of the Philippine Sports Commission, and representatives from the National Sports Association were also present during the ceremony. Tolentino mentioned that the Philippines may place higher than its overall fourth place performance last year because the country's athlete delegation this year is substantially larger.

Carlos Yulo, a two-time global gymnastics champion, will be joining the SEA Games this year as well. Gilas Pilipinas will also compete and is already conducting heavy training with closed-door camps in preparation for the tournament. On the other hand, the Philippine national women’s volleyball team has named Alyssa Valdez the “team captain” as the group intensifies its preparations. In weightlifting, Hidilyn Diaz dismisses the opportunity to win a third consecutive SEA Games gold medal in favor of concentrating on her quest to qualify for a fifth consecutive win in the Olympics; she claims that to perform at her best, it would require plenty of time to recover between competitions.

Team Philippines will compete in 608 events in 38 sports in an effort to surpass its fourth-place showing at the Games in Hanoi last year, where it won 52 gold medals, 70 silver medals, and 105 bronze medals for a total of 227 medals.