PH appeals Thailand's decision to drop weightlifting, 3 other gold-rich sports from 2025 SEA Games

Unless the Thailand organizing committee accepts the appeal of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), the country will be set to lose a number of potential gold medals in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games after the hosts scrapped four sports that have been gold-rich for the Philippines.

POC president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino on Tuesday said they had already sent out their appeal to the hosts to include weightlifting, wushu, jiu-jitsu, and karate, all of which have seen Filipino athletes find success in the last edition, during a SEA Games Federation meeting in Bangkok over the weekend.

“We already appealed to the Thai hosts [for] the inclusion of weightlifting, wushu, jiu-jitsu and karate,” Tolentino said.

“And it’s not only the Philippines which appealed, but a majority of the games members,” he added.

According to the chief official, Thailand is tipped to feature only 40 sports in the biennial meet.

The four sports mentioned saw eight gold medals for the Philippines in the previous edition of the SEA Games in Cambodia in 2023.

Jiu-jitsu athletes Kaila Napolis, Annie Ramirez and Marc Lim topped their categories while Agatha Wong captured one gold in wushu. Karate aces Jamie Lim and Sakura Alforte as well as the weightlifting pair of Elreen Ando and Vanessa Sarno also seized golds in their events.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News