31st SEA Games in Vietnam Officially Postponed Due to Pandemic

The 31st Southeast Asia (SEA) Games that are expected to kick off on 21st November in Hanoi, Vietnam, has been officially postponed due to the spread of the viral pandemic in SEA, as confirmed by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (MOM) on 8th July 2021. According to a report from Philstar Global, Philippine Olympic Committee President, Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino, stated that the 31st SEA Games might be moved to the first quarter of 2022. This means that all athletes including esports teams will have to wait until next year before they can participate in the annual sports event. More details regarding the sudden postponement of the SEA Games 2021 in Vietnam can be found below.

31st SEA Games Postponed Due to Pandemic

According to a post from the official Twitter page of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, the annual sports event which was scheduled to kick off on 21st Nov 2021, is officially postponed and will be moved to next year.

According to the post, the decision was made during the SEA Games Federation meeting which was held on 8th July 2021. The developments of COVID-19 cases around Southeast Asia were collectively reviewed which came to the 31st SEA Games being postponed until next year to prevent casualties.

Philippine Olympic Committee President, Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino, reportedly made a statement saying that the 31st SEA Games might be moved to the first quarter of 2022. However, the new schedule for the 31st SEA Games is yet to be finalized and will be revealed after 10 days of evaluation.

Esports in the 31st SEA Games

Esports made its debut as an official medal event back in 2019 where esports teams from different regions will compete on popular titles such as Tekken 7, Starcraft II, Mobile Legends, Hearthstone, DOTA 2, and Arena of Valor.

This year’s 2021 SEA Games is supposed to be one of the biggest events in the Southeast Asian esports scene. Popular esports titles like League of Legends, Crossfire, and FIFA along with popular mobile esports titles such as Mobile Legends, Wild Rift, PUBG Mobile, and Arena of Valor were included in the list. However, due to the global pandemic, esports teams will have to wait until next year to represent their regions in the 31st SEA Games.