Let's keep politics out of sports.

thể thao - Ảnh 1. — The 33rd SEA Games flame has been lit - PHOTO: NAM TRAN

The campaign was to enthusiastically cheer on the athletes from neighboring countries. The organizers of the 2014 Asian Games formed separate groups of cheerleaders, each consisting of a few dozen people, and spread them throughout all the competition venues.

These fans weren't wearing any flags; they were just pink shirts and waving balloon sticks as a cheering gesture.

Most of them are elderly people in their 60s and 70s, who were born and raised during the period of the Korean Peninsula's division.

The reason South Korea organized this cheerleading squad was due to tensions between the two countries at the time, which prevented North Korea from sending its "beauty pageant" to Incheon 2014.

That's how the world media describes the group of North Korean cheerleaders who often attend major sporting events (like in Busan 2002), consisting of about 200 female supporters, with their beautiful appearance and incredibly charming cheering style.

And no problem, at the Asian Games, North Korean athletes still received support from these fan clubs, or even from a large number of South Korean spectators. That year, the South Koreans organized a truly spectacular sporting event, with the spirit of sportsmanship overshadowing political conflicts.

Throughout the history of elite sports, from world -class to regional competitions, the sport has always been placed in awkward situations like the 2014 Asian Games. And that pressure has only grown stronger with the constant conflicts that have emerged in recent years.

Two days before the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games, gunfire, airstrikes, and conflict once again erupted on the Cambodia-Thailand border.

Cambodian athletes became the most unfortunate at this year's SEA Games when they arrived in Thailand on the very morning the conflict broke out.

Pressure is also mounting on the organizers of the 33rd SEA Games. To protect the Cambodian delegation (which still numbers around 100 people at any given time), Thailand is expected to deploy hundreds of police officers.

But the biggest risk doesn't lie in something Thai authorities can control: the attitude of the people.

"The Cambodian delegation is concerned that they will not be welcomed at the 33rd SEA Games," Thana Chaiprasit, head of the Thai sports delegation, revealed after a meeting with the Cambodian side.

And before the media, Chaiprasit appealed to his people to "put politics aside from sports and build a relationship with Cambodia at the 33rd SEA Games based on pure sportsmanship."

What is pure sportsmanship? It is the spirit of fair play and admiration for extraordinary performances.

When Nguyen Thi Oanh won the two events just 10 minutes apart, she received thunderous applause from large audiences from various countries. And when Bou Samnang, the Cambodian girl who "cried in the rain," struggled to reach the finish line, media outlets from all over praised her efforts.

That is the pure spirit of sportsmanship. The cheering, of course, always favors "homegrown talent," but in the face of compelling performances and extraordinary stories, the cheering knows no boundaries and is apolitical.

More than ever, fans from all countries, not just Thailand, need to show sportsmanship in the stands, just as South Korea did with North Korea at the 2014 Asian Games.

Upon arriving in Thailand, the Cambodian athletes were all smiles in the land of temples. And hopefully, they will be greeted with smiles and applause at the 33rd SEA Games as well.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hay-gat-chinh-polit-khoi-the-thao-20251210075801776.htm