In the late Sunday November afternoon the 27th yesterday, at Quirino Grandstand Square in Manila, the very monument built to commemorate national hero Jose Rizal, was the location of the opening ceremony of the 23rd SEA Games. Athletes from the 11 participating countries, volunteers and the Pinoy crowds gathered there in raptures and smiles

Singapore’s flag of red, white, star and crescent was hoisted with the other 10 other ASEAN nations flags at the ceremony. The ceremony main theme was “One Heritage – One Southeast Asia” which promise to cultivate closer bond and friendship to all the participating ASEAN countries. A formal song for the Games is “We’re all just one” presented by singer Jose Man Chan Julia Abueva who also turned 12 years old herself that day, a young Filipina soprano based in Singapore, accompanied by the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Miguel Chorale

This is the first time in SEA Games opening ceremony, where it was held outside a stadium. Instead the organiser delighted and surprised most when it announced it will be held at Quirino Grandstand Square, the square itself symbolises national unity. The square was filled with the Philippines eagles mascot and eblem which symbolises the national pride of the Filipino people

Filipino President Gloria Arroy was the VVIP who came last and declared the games open to some 200 delegates who are heads of regional and international sporting federations and leaders of ASEAN nations and 7,000 sports officials, coaches and athletes from 11 Southeast Asia countries took part in a march

The Singapore delegation was headed led by bowler Remy Ong comprising of a scaled down marching athletes from a total of 658 Singaporean athletes including 385 men and 273 women will participate in the Games. Singapore aims for around 35 gold medals, to be placed third in the tally. Singapore hopes to perform better this time than what it did in the last SEA Games held in Vietnam in 2003, where Singaporean athletes bagged a total of 116 medals, of which 30 are gold medals

The Games torch was lightened up by Filipino Taekwondo athlete Maria Antoinette Riverro who is the pride of the Philippines. On behalf of all athletes present at the opening ceremony, Filipino Miss Sports Malalad took an oath. Ms Malalad won two gold medals in the two previous Games and at the Karatedo Open Tournaments held in France and Italy recently.

Earlier before the opening ceremony, the competitions has already began with the athletics programme kicking off with three finals; the women’s long jump, high jump and pole vault. Here are the results for today. All athletics action will be held at Rizal Memorial Stadium

For Team Singapore, our sprint aces Poh Seng Song (10.72s, Heat 1) and UK Shyam (10.74s, Heat 2) qualified for the finals after a good account in the heats. Zhang Guirong won Singapore’s first bronze in the Javelin throw (48.7m), she was far from Thai’s Bouban Pamang throw of 55.06m which clinched her gold and Rosie Villarito of Phllipines, silver (49.43m)

Day 1 (27th November, Sunday)

830H Long Jump W Finals
1 MARESTELLA TORRES PHILIPPINES 6.47 Gold
2 LERMA ELMIRA GABITO PHILIPPINES 6.45 Silver
3 NGEW SI MEI MALAYSIA 6.27 Bronze
4 WARUNEE KITTIHIRUN THAILAND 5.74

930H High Jump W Finals
1 BUI THI NHONG VIETNAM 1.89m Gold-New Seagames Record
2 NGUYEN THI NGOC THY VIETNAM 1.86m Silver
3 NOEN-RUTHAI CHAIPECH THAILAND 1.83m Bronze
4 NARCISA ATIENZA PHILIPPINES 1.75m
5 NETNAPA THAIKING THAILAND 1.75m

1000H Pole Vault W Finals
1 ROSALINDA SAMSU MALAYSIA 4.1 Gold – New Seagames Record
2 LE THI PHUONG VIETNAM 4 Silver
3 SANISA KAO -IAD THAILAND 3.6 Bronze
4 PASUTA WONGWENG THAILAND 3.6
5 DEBORAH SAMSU PHILIPPINES 3.6
6 MIKAELA SANTOS PHILIPPINES 3.2

945H 100M M Heats
1 SURYO AGUNG WIBOWO INDONESIA 10.57s Q
2 SOMPOTE SUWANNARANGSRI THAILAND 10.71s Q
3 POH SENG SONG SINGAPORE 10.72s Q
4 MOHD FAIZAL MASLIM MALAYSIA 10.88s Q
5 RALPH WALDY SOGUILON PHILIPPINES 10.90s

1 JOHN HERMAN MURAI INDONESIA 10.65s Q
2 WACHARA SONDEE THAILAND 10.69s Q
3 UMAGUA KANCANANGAI SHAYM SINGAPORE 10.74s Q
4 ARNOLD VILLARUBE PHILIPPINES 10.84s Q

1010H 100M W Heats
1 VU THI HUONG VIETNAM 11.61s Q
2 LAI LAI WIN MYANMAR 11.81s Q
3 DEYSIE NATALIA SUMIGAR INDONESIA 11.87s Q
4 LERMA ELMIRA GABITO PHILIPPINES 11.89s Q
5 NONGNUCH SANRAT THAILAND 11.98s Q

For tommorrow some 14 golds are up for grabs. Team Singapore athletes who will be participating are, Wan Kang (long jump), UK Shyam & Poh Seng Song (100m), Abdul Hakeem (110m Hurdles) & the 4x100m team relay (Erzalmaniq, Shameer, UK Shyam, Poh Seng Song and Alfred Sim)

Day 2 Schedule (28th November, Monday)

09:00 a.m. – 100-m Dash (Men’s decathlon)
09:30 a.m. – Javelin Throw (Women’s finals)
09:30 a.m. – Long Jump (Men’s decathlon)
09:45 a.m. – 10,000-m Run (women’s finals)
11:00 a.m. – Shot Put (Men’s decathlon)
03:30 p.m. – 110-m Hurdles (Men’s finals)
03:30 p.m. – High Jump (Men’s decathlon)
03:30 p.m. – Javelin Throw (Men’s finals)
03:30 p.m. – Long Jump (Men’s finals)
03:45 p.m. – 100-m Hurdles (Women’s finals)
04:15 p.m. – 100-m Dash (Men’s finals)
04:30 p.m. – 100-m Dash (Women’s finals)
04:45 p.m. – 800-m Run (Men’s finals)
04:55 p.m. – 800-m Run (Women’s finals)