Delayed SEA Games to be held in Hanoi in mid-May 2022

SINGAPORE — The 2021 SEA Games, which was postponed in July from its original schedule of 15 November to 2 December due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now be held in Hanoi in mid-May next year.

A Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) spokesperson confirmed that the SEA Games Federation had held a meeting on Monday (18 October), and accepted the proposal by Vietnam's SEA Games organising committee to hold the 31st edition of the biennial Games at the country's capital in May 2022.

The exact dates of the sports competitions have yet to be confirmed. SNOC said that, with the new dates in place, it will "adjust the selection qualification window accordingly" for athletes bidding to make the cut for the Singapore SEA Games contingent.

The athletes will be facing a packed major Game calendar next year, with the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Birmingham in July and the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou in September.

The SEA Games had been postponed after an outbreak of COVID-19 infections in Vietnam. The number of daily new cases in the country reached a peak of almost 15,000 in September, before dropping to around 3,000 in mid-October.

Vietnamese newspaper An Ninh Thu Do reported that funding for the SEA Games has yet to be allocated, as the organisers are awaiting news on the Games' COVID-19 protocols.

Vietnam had organised the SEA Games once before in 2003, when Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City shared hosting duties.

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