Thai sports officials apologize for “inappropriate, baseless” report

By Edwin Rollon


THAI sports officials Thursday apologized to the Philippines for the negative issues brought about by a Thai newspaper report which they called “inappropriate and baseless’.

Chaiyapak Siriwat, vice president of the Thailand Olympic Council, said he was surprised when informed about the issues and extended his apologies to Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco and other members of the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council (SEAGF).

“The report was inappropriate and I feel sorry for this. On behalf of the Thailand Sports Council I apologize for whatever inconvenience brought about by the senseless report,” said Siriwat during the SEAG Federation Council meeting at the Hyatt Hotel.

The report quoted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as having expressed disappointment over the results of the SEA Games which the Philippines is hosting.
Although Siriwat neither confirmed nor denied the report, Siriwat said he is still waiting for a formal communication from the Thai PM.

He said he has yet to receive any complaint of irregularities or any kind of manipulation in the Games from the Thais athletes, officials and technical group.
Siriwat said the Thai Deputy Minister will be arriving this Saturday and an announcement could be made about the issues.

“But as far as I’m concerned I haven’t received any complaint from the athletes,” said Siriwat, who was with Thai sports minister Gen. Charouck Arirachakaran and Thai chef de mission Charoen Wattasin during the SEAG Council meeting.

Philippine sports officials readily accepted Siriwat’s apologies.

“Our Thai friends were here even before the start of the Games. Sila mismo ang nakakaalam at nakakita kung paano ang proceedings ng mga events. Their continuing support will prove only that they see nothing wrong with our hosting,” said Cojuangco, also the president of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Philsoc).

POC chairman Robert Aventajado echoed Cojuangco’s view, saying the issues should be put behind.

‘Ganyan lang naman talaga ang buhay, pag mabunga, binabato. I think this is a non-issue considering that our Thai counterparts personally saw the whole picture and have no complaint,” said Aventajado.

“Actually, tayo nga ang nawalan ng gold ng ma-disqualify si (Eduardo) Buenavista which we think is only on a technicality.”

During the SEAGF Council meeting, Cojuangco also reported on the Games growing popularity as indicated by the nearly 20 million who has visited the SEAG website all over the world.


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RP sports exec quashes Thai leader's doubts over SEA Games

First posted 03:20pm (Mla time) Nov 30, 2005
By Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

DOUBTS over the fairness of the results in the Southeast Asian Games were quashed by a top sports official of host country Philippines on Wednesday.

Eric Buhain, chairman of the Games and Amusement Board and ambassador of the SEA Games, told INQ7.net that Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra should not question the performance of the Filipinos.

Earlier on Wednesday, without naming the Philippines, the Thai leader expressed disappointment over the outcome of the competitions and said that more importance had been given to the medal race than to the athletic spirit.

"Measurable sports like running, swimming, fencing, and water polo cannot be rigged as insinuated by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra," Buhain said.

"The only way you can question the SEA Games is in the subjective games. This is just the fourth day and the Philippines is leading pero hindi pa tapos ang boxing, judo, o wrestling...[but boxing, judo or wrestling are not over] .One-zero ang bilangan sa mga yan [The counting in these competitions is one-zero]. Even in fencing, the scores are counted electronically," he said.

Buhain, who is in the Senate for the budget hearing of GAB, said the Philippines' top gold medal ranking was based on the actual performance of the athletes.

He attributed the rich medal harvest to First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's financial assistance and the Philippines' "deep bench."

Buhain cited Arroyo's contribution to local sports through the Medalyang Ginto (Gold Medal) program, which gave 25 million pesos to 85 athletes in the last SEA Games.

"To prepare for this year, [the same program] supported 280 of the Philippines' 890 athletes with 160 million pesos. That's 160 million divided by 280 athletes," Buhain said.

"That's pretty big. That's why what we see now is really the result of that," he said.

Buhain said the Philippines and the 10 other countries, including Thailand, which participated in the last SEA Games in Vietnam did not question the host country when it got 150 gold medals. It was Vietnam's first time to host the biennial event.

"He [Thai prime minister] should not question our performance at all," Buhain said.

The Thai leader said he might raise the medal issue on the sidelines of the December summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia.

Four days into the SEA Games, the Philippines continues to lead the medal standings as it rakes in more golds in the various sporting events. Vietnam and Thailand are second and third respectively.



http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index...&story_id=58286

Dapat lang sila mag-apology!

I saw this post from another website:
The Prime Minister's comments are totally baseless, no question about it. Here's why:

FACT 1: When he uttered those nasty comments, most of the sports which are subjected to 'not completely objective' judging are yet to be held. Gymnastics and boxing,both medal-rich sports and subjectively judged (in case of boxing, 'subjective' scoring only comes into play when a knockout does not occur), are still on their preliminary stages. In fact, the only sports already held which had scintilias of 'not completely objective' judging were dancesport and taekwondo. All the rest employed procedures beyond reproach: athletics, aquatics, for example.

FACT 2: In the sports with the so-called 'not completely objective scoring' like taekwondo and dancesport, judging panels were composed of officials from the different countries participating.

FACT 3: There is truth to the claim that sports were added to boost the chances of the host. In this edition, it was dancesport, among others. THIS IS HOWEVER, NOT UNIQUE TO THIS EDITION. In fact, this practice is one the most-enduring yet totally wrong practices observed in the SEA Games. In 2003, Vietnam addded shuttlecock and fin swimming, sports which only Vietnam could win. This wrong practice was also observed in Kuala Lumpur 2001, Jakarta 1997 and Chiang Mai 1995. SEA Games officials aver that this will be the last year that such wrong practice will be observed.

Before he made such comments, the PM should have first looked no further than home. The whole world knows that Bangkok is the world's capital of rigged sports. Rigging boxing results is a long-held practice in Thailand and Thais know this.

Dakdak sila ng dakdak eh madaya rin sila!

Oh Please!

it is surprising that suddenly philippines becomes so successul in sports ahead of thailand and vietnam. all we want is a fair game but sadly..

^and philippines never had successes in the ASEAN games before? $hit they even cutout basketball for christsake.

i'm no aggressor and immature about the subject because the ASEAN Games suppose to bring diplomacy rather than trash talking, but the fact that cheating in these games is no stranger in any country that hosted it.

also aren't the judges suppose to be multinatinal?

yes, SEA games is not about winning, its about the SEA spirit. anyway i guess you have watched the games. you would know what im talking about.

2 Thais sanctioned for shady judging in aquatics

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna -- At least two Thai aquatics officials have been sanctioned by the Fina (international aquatics federation) for “shady judging” among other things, Philippine Amateur Swimming Association president Mark Joseph said on Thursday.

Joseph said that in aquatics, one Thai judge was disciplined by the Fina neutral referee from New Zealand for “obviously favoring his own diver.”

In water polo, according to Joseph, another Thai referee was banned from the deck because of “intentional bad calls and unfair player exclusions.”

He said the referee “destroyed the Vietnam team” and was never allowed to be on the deck again by the Fina neutral delegate from Iran.

Joseph refused to name the two Thai referees.[I]


Well well well 2 , Paging PM of Thailand

wtf!!!! we are one of the top three powerhouses in the region along
with thailand and indonesia.... we are consistent third in the SEA games
behind thailand and indonesia... we failed to get the 3rd spot in 2001 and 2003
because it was hosted by malaysia and vietnam respectively...
we got the capabilities to become the overall champion with the support from our crowd... it was so funny to think that those who are in thailand are the only one sourgraping when their officials who are actually witnessing the games personally dont have any problems with the way the games are conducted... thai media are just sensationalizing this issue...

Protesters picket the Embassy of Thailand in Makati, east of Manila, Philippines, Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 to protest recent remarks by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra suggesting that host Philippines was unfairly favoring its own competitors for medals in the South East Asian Games. The remarks sparked reaction from protesters and demanded that Thaksin apologize to Filipino people. 'Gloria' means Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

hmmm, maybe its best if....

apologize....

forgive.....

and forrget...

these SEA games are suppose to strengthen relationships between SEA nations...

Hindi ko matanggap ang sorry ninyo! Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw!

seriously but nooo...we have a bunch of whiners instead...

What strengthen relationship? SEA games is a always a rift between the host country and its participants!
you expect Thailand to get everything in the next SEA Games in 2007!

2 THOSE Thais are griping uncircumsized losers. The Philippines won those gold medals fair and square!!!

The Filipino athletes won those gold medals fair and square. No Filipino judge officiated or took part in judging when there is a Filipino contender in the sports or games being done. The judges for the games are taken from a pool of judges who come from other Southeast Asian countries.

Actually, there were two Thai officials or judges who were banned and disqualified for judging some games because of their obvious favoritism and lack of competency in judging based on the standards to be adhered to.

It is not surprising for the Philippines to be on top. Last time the SEA Games was held in Manila, the Philippines was only second to Indonesia. Two years ago, the Philippines was only 4th in Vietnam.

SEA Games is held every two years, and many improvements have happened, can happen and will happen. The Philippines may still make the same gold streak in 2007 or lose its magic and become 2nd, 4th again or maybe last in the medal standing.

Thai officials ar uncircumsized griping losers. They gave out unfounded and inappropriate remarks and accusations. C'mon, admit it... this year, the PHILIPPINES is the one to beat!!!

ahhhh, Ekek.. taray ha...

ikaw naman, pinag ba-bate ko lang yung mga nag-aaway

yun nga pala, napahinto ko na yung mga guma-gawa nang mga double accounts para lang mam-bwuisit dito sa section.

hinay-hinay lang po

Anong bati -bati? The damage has been done ! It was broadcast in the whole world!

They sarted it and i will finish it!
Mabuti nga at pinagbabato ng mga mineral bottles , coins ang mga lintik na mga partisan judges ng boxing kagabi sa Negros!!!!!! The Philippines should have won another Gold medal!

Sea games not winning ?
The issue here is not winning but the accusations of cheating ! Thailand is also a notorious cheater too! rowdy crowd and biased judging in 1995 Chiangmai Sea Games the Thai's who saw that the Philippines was leading in the basketball games in Chiangmai then threw bottles of water , cans etc.......

In 1991 Manila Games several Thai athletes were stripped of Gold medals since they were caught using drugs from the urine samples .

Then again 2 Thai judges were also seen having shady deals.......

Oh really? Well I think most of Thai's were uncircumcized since according to my teacher in biology that it is only in the Philippines, US, and Israel that practice mass circumcision.

Well the Philippines is still number 1 in the ranking!

Thai's are sore loosers and cheaters

Congratulations to Philippines with 114 Gold , 82 Silver and 91 Bonzes with an overall medal tally of 287

Congratulations to the Philippines

Chill lang tayo. We Filipinos should be used to politics (international and local) by now; nothing is EVER resolved to the contentment of all parties concerned.

Di bale. We'll kick @$$ at the Asian Games (to the best of our abilities vs. the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans ) and show that our medals were justified.

'Wag na tayo mag-namecalling. Nakahiya naman sa mga hindi Pinoy na nagbabasa at nagpopost dito.

^d wag ingles


out of da 2319 officials only 308 were actually Filipinos...............

tska narinig k supot talaga ung mga yan



btw, babae ba yan si Ek-ek?(kse "no info" ung gender nya)

Hindi ninyo ako kilala kasi ako ang pinakauna rito!

^nevermind, ur a gal

Name calling? They were the first one who started it!