Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino announced another shakeup in the country’s international sports calendar in 2022.

Tolentino confirmed that the Vietnam Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will be held in the latter part of May next year, while Thailand is set to announce the postponement of the Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) to 2023.

“We are expecting both governments of Thailand and Vietnam to make the official announcements next week,” Tolentino said.

The sixth edition of the AIMAG, held once every four years, was originally scheduled for March 10 to 20 next year in Bangkok and Chonburi, but the Thai government opted to move the games back because of health and safety considerations.

The regional biennial meet, however, was slated to be staged in November this year in a bubble, but was also delayed due to the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam.

But the postponement of the quadrennial AIMAG event would reduce the additional budget requested by Tolentino.

“As I have committed in my manifestation during the budget hearing for the PSC, the budget for any of these games that will be canceled or postponed will have to be excluded or returned to the National Treasury,” shared the POC president.

Last Tuesday, September 27, the House approved a budget of P650 million for a jam-packed 2022 sports calendar.

This includes the Beijing Winter Olympics (P5 million, February 4 to 20), AIMAG (P150 million), The World Games (P10 million, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, July 7 to 22), Huangzhou Asian Games (P270 million, September 10 to 25), and Shantou Asian Youth Games (P15 million, December 20 to 28).

An additional P200 million was requested for the SEA Games to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Philippines is set to defend its overall championship title in the 2019 SEA Games, which the country hosted. – Rappler.com