By Waylon Galvez
The water polo community in the Southeast Asian region will appeal for the inclusion of the aquatic event in the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games next year in Vietnam.
The Vietnam organizing committee has already named 40 sports on its initial list of disciplines, but water polo, which has been in the SEA Games since its inclusion in 1965, was not among them.
PH team coach Dale Evangelista, however, remains confident the event will still be played even the host country has no team.
“Nangayari na yan before nung naglabas ang Laos ng sports events in SEA Games back in 2009, walang water polo. Pero ang water polo community sa Southeast Asia nag-appeal kaya nagkaron eventually,” said Evangelista.
“Kaya ngayon, same lang din yan, ia-apela ng community. Of course it’s a process, hindi naman basta basta yan, pero kasi para payagan ang isang sport, four countries ang kailangang kasali including the host.”
In last year’s SEA Games which the country hosted and dominated, five countries participated in the water polo with Indonesia ending Singapore’s supremacy.
Other countries that took part were Thailand and Malaysia.
“Noong nag-host ng SEA Games ang Laos wala silang team sa water polo event, so ibig lang sabihin pwede maski hindi mag-participate ang host. Pero ang balita nga namin is magbu-buo sila ng team,” said Evangelista.
“Ang water polo event kasi malalakas ang team na nandiyan. Of course Indonesia nag-gold last year, then tayo at ang longtime champion Singapore, tapos paangat na uli ang Malaysia at Thailand. Itong lima, lumalabas yan sa Asia and even sa world, kaya I don’t see na walang water polo sa 2021 SEA Games,” he added.
