SEA Games 2019: who you should be looking out for in Philippines at the upcoming biennial event
- A selection of the brightest talents in Southeast Asia to look out for the upcoming regional biennial
The region’s countries had a historic breakthrough at the Rio Olympics in 2016 with Vietnamese shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh and Singaporean swimmer Joseph Schooling winning first ever golds for their respective nations.
In Brazil, Southeast Asian athletes were among the best in the world at weightlifting, badminton, shooting, cycling, taekwondo, swimming and diving. Some of those athletes are still going strong and will be on show in the Philippines but there are also several new names and new sports to watch out for.
So who should you be looking out for at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games? Here are 11 to watch.
Royson Vincent, Malaysia – 800m
The Malaysian middle-distance man took bronze at the Southeast Asian Games in 2017 and is on course to do better in the Philippines this time around. He clocked a time of 1:50.56 at the Malaysian championships in August, making him the top ranked man in the region. His coach expects a challenge to come from Vietnam’s Duong Van Thai and home favourite Marco Vilog but has faith Vincent can win a first Malaysian gold since 2013.