Typhoon Kammuri forces new dates for SEA Games competitions

Several events in the Clark and Subic clusters in the 30th SEA Games have been postponed to new dates after Typhoon Kammuri was expected to make landfall within the next 12 hours.

Philippine SEA Games Organising Committee Sports Director Karen Claire Caballero in a statement issued today said among the sports revised to new dates are beach volleyball, canoe/kayak, muay thai, pencak silat, modern pentathlon and surfing.

Beach volleyball has been moved from Dec 2-3 to Dec 4-6, canoe/kayak (competition from Dec 6-8 only), while muay thai, the mai-waikru and combat competitions will start from Dec 4-5 and Dec 6-8, respectively.

Caballero said all sailing competition from Dec 2-4 at the Subic Bay had been cancelled and will resume on Dec 5, depending on the weather situation, while the pencak silat competition at the Subic Convention and Exhibition Centre is now slated to be held from Dec 4-6 from the initial Dec 2-3.

She added that the mixed team relay triathlon, slated to be held early morning today, has been postponed to 3.30pm, while the modern pentathlon has been moved to the morning session on Dec 5 from Dec 4.

Caballero also revealed that the surfing competition slated to be held at the Subic Yacht Club today, has been cancelled and would take place tomorrow.

She, however, asserted that six other sports will proceed as scheduled - table tennis, sepak takraw, chess, beach handball, rowing and open water swimming.

Over in South Luzon and La Union (Solu) cluster, Karen said the skateboard competition has been postponed to a new date, while the underwater hockey competition will proceed as usual but will finish before 3pm. Solu cluster is located in the outskirts of Manila city.

She also added that the cycling and indoor hockey events will proceed based on its original schedule.

According to international news reports, at least one person has died in the Philippines and tens of thousands have been evacuated, while the operations at Ninoy Aquino airport has been suspended as Typhoon Kammuri moved closer to the main Luzon island.

- Bernama