Thai sports boss speaks out about serious incidents: 'Budget less than Cambodia's SEA Games'

Dr. Kongsak Yodmanee, Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), has just spoken out about the incidents that the host country of the 33rd SEA Games has just encountered.

Although the 33rd SEA Games has not yet opened, the host country Thailand has received a lot of criticism from the media and fans for its organization. A series of incidents such as the Rajamangala Stadium losing sound, unable to play music during the National Anthem of U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos, the lighting system lacking light, fans unable to enter the stadium even with tickets... continuously appeared. Even Thailand's Thairath page frankly admitted: "What happened on the first day (December 3) was not only a small mistake, but also a "worrying signal", showing that Thailand's hosting of the 33rd SEA Games may need to be accelerated and many more things improved, to avoid causing further damage to the image of the country and the Thai sports industry".

SEA Games 33 Thailand has a smaller budget than SEA Games 32

The constant controversy forced Mr. Kongsak Yodmanee to speak up. On the afternoon of December 4, the Governor of SAT appeared on the Workers' News program and surprisingly explained: "SAT is really having difficulty managing the budget. We have to calculate everything carefully. Moreover, moving the venue from Songkhla, which was affected by storms and floods, to Bangkok and Chonburi requires the Organizing Committee to spend an additional budget of more than 160 million baht (more than 131 billion VND). In this situation, we cannot ask for money from the Thai Government . We have to save everything as much as possible."

Host country Thailand has been criticized for its organization even though the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games has not yet taken place.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

Mr. Kongsak Yodmanee emphasized: “Thailand’s SEA Games budget is lower than the previous SEA Games in Cambodia. We only have a total of 2 billion baht (about 1,645 billion VND) for the 33rd SEA Games while this figure in Cambodia is up to 3 billion baht (about 2,468 billion VND).”

“At the same time, we also received less budget for the opening and closing ceremonies. Actually, if we say that the 33rd SEA Games is a disaster, that is not true. But we must honestly admit that it is a problem for the entire sports industry, which has received less support from the Thai Government than necessary. However, SAT affirms that we will try our best. We guarantee that Thailand's Games will not be inferior to Cambodia or any other country in terms of scale and grandeur,” Mr. Kongsak Yodmanee added.

The incident of singing the National Anthem in the match between U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos was clarified, "the lights at Rajamangala Stadium still exceed lighting standards"

In the Workers' News program, host Sorayuth Suthassanachinda also suddenly asked Mr. Kongsak Yodmanee about the incident in the singing of the National Anthem by the U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos teams.

The SAT Governor revealed: “The incident occurred due to a technical problem with the loudspeakers at Rajamangala Stadium, which were not loud enough. The 33rd SEA Games will feature 50 sports, with each sports federation responsible for both technical and competition management. After the incident, I went to the venue to talk to the sound control staff of the Football Association (FAT). The staff replied that during the inspection, the sound was normal. When the flag salute between the two teams took place, the national anthems of the two countries were still played through the headphones, but the speakers on the field did not have any sound. FAT tried to fix the problem, but the match had already started, making it impossible for them to solve the problem.”

The 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee was unable to play music during the National Anthem of U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos.

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

Mr. Kongsak Yodmanee added: “After this incident, we and FAT will learn from this experience. Backup sound systems will be installed to ensure that similar incidents do not happen again. Afterwards, I also sent a letter of apology to Vietnam and Laos, declaring that this incident will not happen again.

Regarding the lighting at Rajamangala Stadium, although some lights have been lost, the existing lights are still above the competition standards, not less than 1,500 lux. So what we are doing and will do is to meet the competition standards. We are making every effort to ensure that all are installed in the right places, otherwise there will be more trouble and other problems. But to avoid any problems, we have ordered the lights to be installed so as not to cause any controversy.”

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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sep-lon-the-thao-thai-lan-len-tieng-ve-nhung-su-co-nghiem-trong-ngan-sach-it-hon-sea-games-campuchia-18525120414051615.htm