The arduous 'journey' to get the SEA Games press pass, holding it in hand is happier than winning gold!

The SEA Games 33 press pass was awarded late at night on December 2.

When we arrived at the 33rd SEA Games Press Center on the evening of December 2, the car carrying the media staff who had just brought the press cards to the lobby. Previously, reporters from TV stations had been given priority to receive the cards early, but reporters from newspapers, magazines and social networking sites from other countries were still waiting for approval until the last minute. The reason was that Thailand put security first and wanted to strictly control the number of press cards. They also wanted to avoid many cases of registering for cards but not going to cover the SEA Games, leading to wasted printing, so they waited until the last minute to provide the cards.

Nhọc nhằn ‘hành trình’ lấy thẻ tác nghiệp SEA Games, cầm trên tay mừng hơn bắt được vàng!- Ảnh 1. — SEA Games 33 card of press reporter

This is of course different from the past when reporters went to work, the Organizing Committee sent their cards to the national Olympic committees and they received them very early in their country. When they arrived at the venue, the reporters held the newly activated card or exchanged it for another working card with confirmation from the Organizing Committee. This time, it was the tightening of the Thai people that made many journalists who followed the men's and women's teams early "laugh and cry" in the first 2 days. Some had to use temporary cards issued by Thailand to be able to work, but they were always worried because they felt insecure and inconvenient for traveling and working.

Nhọc nhằn ‘hành trình’ lấy thẻ tác nghiệp SEA Games, cầm trên tay mừng hơn bắt được vàng!- Ảnh 2. — MPC staff complete the card handover procedure for reporters.

But everything was promptly done by the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee on the afternoon of December 2 by speeding up the approval process and printing the cards. Thousands of cards for reporters to write and take photos were present at the SEA Games Press Center and Thanh Nien Newspaper was immediately the first to receive them. Ms. Siratha Khumpon, an employee here, said: "We understand the concerns of journalists from many countries when they have come to our country to work but have not yet held their press cards in their hands. In fact, a number of cards were printed in advance, but we need to review them according to the confirmation of the countries to ensure that the cards are delivered to the people present at the congress. We hope that reporters from all newspapers will sympathize with the Organizing Committee for this delay."

Nhọc nhằn ‘hành trình’ lấy thẻ tác nghiệp SEA Games, cầm trên tay mừng hơn bắt được vàng!- Ảnh 3. — The newly arrived SEA Games 33 cards have been checked and classified by staff.

Thus, with the press card available since the evening of December 2, the concerns of the press in the past few days have been promptly resolved. From now on, many activities at the 33rd SEA Games will be communicated more widely and strongly from the newspapers. Because the press card is very important for reporters to access different competition areas, promptly conveying the huge amount of news of the congress to fans of their country, in the region and around the world .