Organizers of the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam announced on Friday that the regional meet will be held on May 12 to 23 next year.

The specific dates have been posted on Vietnam’s national Olympic committee website and reported by Channel News Asia (CNA).

The SEA Games will begin three days after the Philippines holds its national and local elections on May 9, 2022.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said this means majority of the athletes, coaches and officials on Team Philippines won't be able to cast their votes.

• SEA Games won't be held in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic

“This is one of those sacrifices of having to represent the country in an international competition,” said Tolentino.

The POC has identified a 626-athlete delegation to the Vietnam games which will be played in the Hanoi main hub.

“The main bulk of the delegation will be leaving for Vietnam no less than a week before the opening ceremony,” Tolentino said. “This is because our athletes need to acclimatize and get the feel of the competition venues, environment and weather.”

Vietnam originally scheduled the games on November 21 to December 2 last year, but was forced to postpone because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hanoi will be the main hub with 11 other sub-venues.

• Vietnam SEA Games to push through in May 2022; Thailand AIMAG pushed back to 2023

Vietnam has allocated a budget of around $69 million for these games, which are expected to attract close to 20,000 participants, 7,000 of them athletes from 11 countries.

“With the dates set, our athletes, through their national sports associations, could now specifically program their training and peak at the right time in May,” Tolentino said.

The Philippines will compete in 39 of the 40 sports on the Vietnam games program.

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