The 28th Southeast Asian Games has finally concluded and Thailand was reigned as the overall champion.
With fireworks and neon lights, the center stage of Singapore National Stadium lit up to mark the end of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games last Tuesday, June 16, 2015. This 12-day period of sportsmanship, friendships, and outstanding performances in 402 sporting events in 36 sports has been a declaration of each athlete's triumph and defeat.
The games here were featured in several video presentations while delegates, the host country, and the mascot, Nila, greeted the spectators. There were as much as 50,000 people who gathered to cheer for their home countries and congratulate them for their collected medals. Then the SEA Games Federation President Tan Chuan-Jin delivered his speech which was dedicated to the victims of Sabah Earthquake. He pertained to the games as "memorable" and "showing the spirit of friendship". Upon thanking the volunteers, two athletes were special mentioned for having the courage to battle much older competitors (11-year-old swimmer from Myanmar, Oo Shun Lei Maw) and showing fairness regardless of being in a competition (marathon runner from Singapore, Ashley Liew).
A few more medals were bestowed during the final day of the games: Badminton men's singles and women's doubles both went to Malaysia; badminton mixed doubles went to the Indonesian pair; and badminton women's single was given to Thailand.
Aside from the awarding of trophies and medals, the event also featured a dance party. Athletes, volunteers, and spectators alike enjoyed the colorful enormous rubber balls and strobes of laser lights while dancing to the beats by DJ Ferry Corsten.
As for the Philippine SEA Games team, they have performed competitively and had achieved the greatness at their best by bagging 29 gold, 36 silver, and 66 bronze from major group events like basketball and rugby, and individual sporting events like wushu and triathlon. It was a big moment for the Gilas Cadets because it was the 17th gold medal since the country participated in 1970s.
Singapore SEA Games President Tony Tan's speech was to close the ceremony closed the games by doing the closing ceremony tradition of putting off the fire from the symbolic SEA Games cauldron and handing over the SEA Games official flag to the next host of the biennial even in the Southeast Asia region. And last July 2012, the country of Malaysia was decided to host the 29th SEA Games in 2017 that will be held in Kuala Lumpur.
Another upcoming sporting event this year is the 8th ASEAN Para-games on December 3-9, 2015 which is also going to be hosted by Singapore.
