Southeast Asian Games 2025

[dcmdtruefan 41]

Just got some free time during the holidays to post after taking the past week to sleep in quite a bit. As I have stated just before the beginning of the SEA Games, that I will complied and post the Olympic events tally for event, so here it is:

 

Road to LA 2028: 2025 SEA Games Olympic Events Medal Tally

 

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Thailand	87	69	54	210
2	Vietnam	46	41	55	142
3	Indonesia	41	48	58	148
4	Singapore	40	32	35	107
5	Philippines	27	38	63	128
6	Malaysia	27	30	41	98
7	Myanmar	0	5	12	17
8	Timor-Leste	0	1	3	4
9	Laos	0	1	2	3
10	Brunei	0	0	0	0
Total		268	265	323	856

 

* Note # 1: 267 Olympic events out of the 353 events from the LA 2028 games were planned for competition. 266 were competed as women's kiteboarding was cancelled due to having less than 3 competitiors for the event. 

 

* Note # 2: Two events had two winners due to being tied in points. Those two events were in the horizontal bar and vault events in men's gymnastics. 

 

* Note # 3: Modern Pentathlon was featured in the 2025 SEA Games. But just like in the 2019 edition, it did not have any Olympic events as none of the competed events composed of all of the events that made up the Olympic format of the sport. In the three events that was held for modern pentathlon in the SEA Games, none of them featured fencing, therefore I can't count any of those competed events in the Olympic event medal tally. 

 

And here is the medal tally broken down by sport:

 

1a. Aquatics-Artistic Swimming (2 events): 1. Singapore 1-1-0 1. Thailand 1-1-0 3. Indonesia 0-0-2

 

1b. Aquatics-Diving (3): 1. Malaysia 2-0-0 2. Thailand 1-1-0 3. Singapore 0-2-1 4. Indonesia 0-0-1 4. Vietnam 0-0-1

 

1c. Aquatics-Swimming (40): 1. Singapore 19-9-8 2. Thailand 7-7-9 3. Vietnam 6-10-11 4. Philippines 3-9-2 5. Indonesia 3-3-5 6. Malaysia 2-3-5

 

1d. Aquatics-Water Polo (2): 1. Singapore 1-1-0 2. Thailand 1-0-1 3. Indonesia 0-1-1

 

2. Archery (6): 1. Indonesia 4-0-2 2. Singapore 1-0-0 2. Thailand 1-0-0 4. Vietnam 0-3-3 5. Malaysia 0-3-1

 

3. Athletics/Track and Field (47): 1. Thailand 13-13-4 2. Vietnam 12-12-10 3. Indonesia 9-5-6 4. Philippines 5-7-19 5. Malaysia 5-5-6 6. Singapore 3-3-3 7. Myanmar 0-2-0

 

4. Badminton (5): 1. Indonesia 2-2-4 2. Thailand 2-2-0 3. Malaysia 1-1-5 4. Vietnam 0-0-1 

 

5a. Basketball 5x5 (2): 1. Philippines 2-0-0 2. Thailand 0-2-0 3. Indonesia 0-0-2

 

5b. Basketball 3x3 (2): 1. Thailand 1-1-0 2. Indonesia 1-0-0 3. Singapore 0-1-0 4. Malaysia 0-0-2

 

6. Boxing (11): 1. Thailand 9-1-1 2. Philippines 1-2-3 3. Vietnam 1-2-2 4. Indonesia 0-3-3 5. Singapore 0-2-2 6. Timor-Leste 0-1-2 7. Myanmar 0-0-5 8. Laos 0-0-1 8. Malaysia 0-0-1

 

7. Canoeing (5): 1. Thailand 4-1-0 2. Vietnam 1-0-0 3. Indonesia 0-4-1 4. Malaysia 0-0-3 5. Myanmar 0-0-1

 

8. Cycling (8): 1. Thailand 4-5-2 2. Malaysia 3-1-0 3. Indonesia 1-1-2 4. Laos 0-1-0 5. Philippines 0-0-1 5. Vietnam 0-0-1

 

9. Equestrian (6): 1. Thailand 3-2-1 2. Indonesia 2-2-2 3. Malaysia 1-1-1 4. Philippines 0-1-0 5. Myanmar 0-0-1 5. Singapore 0-0-1

 

10. Fencing (12): 1. Singapore 8-3-2 2. Vietnam 3-2-5 3. Thailand 1-3-6 4. Philippines 0-2-11 5. Malaysia 0-2-0

 

11. Field Hockey (2): 1. Malaysia 2-0-0 2. Indonesia 0-1-1 2. Thailand 0-1-1 4. Singapore 0-0-2

 

12. Football (2): 1. Vietnam 1-1-0 2. Philippines 1-0-0 3. Thailand 0-1-1 4. Malaysia 0-0-1

 

13. Golf (2): 1. Thailand 2-1-1 2. Vietnam 0-1-1

 

14. Gymnastics (12): 1. Thailand 4-0-2 2. Malaysia 3-2-3 3. Philippines 3-1-4 4. Vietnam 3-1-1 5. Indonesia 1-2-1 6. Singapore 0-4-1

 

15. Handball (2): 1. Thailand 1-1-0 1. Vietnam 1-1-0 3. Singapore 0-0-2 4. Indonesia 0-0-1 4. Philippines 0-0-1

 

16. Judo (9): 1. Thailand 3-2-2 2. Indonesia 3-2-1 3. Philippines 2-3-0 4. Malaysia 1-0-2 5. Vietnam 0-1-8 6. Myanmar 0-1-1 7. Singapore 0-0-3

 

17. Rowing (7): 1. Thailand 2-4-1 2. Indonesia 2-2-1 3. Vietnam 2-0-1 4. Philippines 1-0-4 5. Myanmar 0-1-0

 

18. Rugby (2): 1. Thailand 2-0-0 2. Singapore 0-1-1 3. Malaysia 0-1-0 4. Philippines 0-0-1

 

19. Sailing (7): 1. Singapore 3-2-0 2. Thailand 3-1-2 3. Malaysia 0-3-0 4. Philippines 0-0-4; Cancelled-1 event (Women's Kiteboarding)

 

20. Shooting (13): 1. Vietnam 4-3-1 2. Malaysia 4-0-4 3. Indonesia 3-4-4 4. Thailand 1-2-3 5. Singapore 1-1-2 6. Philippines 0-3-1

 

21. Skateboarding (4): 1. Philippines 2-1-0 2. Thailand 1-2-4 3. Indonesia 1-1-0

 

22. Sport Climbing (6): 1. Indonesia 4-3-1 2. Thailand 2-2-3 3. Singapore 0-1-1 4. Philippines 0-0-1

 

23. Table Tennis (5): 1. Singapore 3-0-2 2. Thailand 2-2-2 3. Malaysia 0-2-3 4. Indonesia 0-1-1 5. Vietnam 0-0-2

 

24. Taekwondo (8): 1. Thailand 5-2-1 2. Vietnam 2-1-2 3. Philippines 1-2-1 4. Myanmar 0-1-3 4. Indonesia 0-1-3 6. Malaysia 0-1-2 7. Timor-Leste 0-0-1

 

25. Tennis (5): 1. Thailand 3-5-1 2. Indonesia 1-0-6 3. Philippines 1-0-2 4. Malaysia 0-0-1

 

26. Triathlon (3): 1. Indonesia 2-1-0 2. Philippines 1-2-1 3. Malaysia 0-0-1 4. Singapore 0-0-1

 

27a. Indoor Volleyball (2): 1. Thailand 2-0-0 2. Indonesia 0-1-1 3. Vietnam 0-1-0 4. Philippines 0-0-1

 

27b. Beach Volleyball (2): 1. Indonesia 1-0-0 1. Philippines 1-0-0 3. Thailand 0-2-0 4. Vietnam 0-0-2

 

28. Weightlifting (5): 1. Thailand 5-0-0 2. Indonesia 0-2-1 3. Malaysia 0-2-0 4. Vietnam 0-1-2 5. Myanmar 0-0-1 5. Philippines 0-0-1

 

29. Wrestling (12): 1. Vietnam 10-1-1 2. Indonesia 1-6-3 3. Philippines 1-4-3 4. Thailand 0-1-5 5. Laos 0-0-1

 

30. Baseball & Softball (2): 1. Philippines 2-0-0 2. Thailand 0-1-1 3. Singapore 0-1-0 4. Indonesia 0-0-1

 

31. Cricket (2): 1. Malaysia 1-1-0 2. Thailand 1-0-0 3. Philippines 0-1-0 4. Indonesia 0-0-1 5. Singapore 0-0-1

 

32. Squash (2): 1. Malaysia 2-2-0 2. Philippines 0-0-2 2. Singapore 0-0-2

 

Edited January 3 by dcmdtruefan

[dcmdtruefan 41]

I like to take my next and last two posts on this topic to give my last takes on the just concluded SEA Games in Thailand. My last takes include the issue of the selection of sport events and the current LA 2028 outlook for each major country in the region as well as what Thailand's lack of readiness in hosting the event reveals about the state of the country. For this post, I will discuss the first two topics.

 

Prior to the opening of the 2025 Sea Games, I have written a post about how the selection of sport events, in particular Olympic sports events, did not promote competitiveness in a fair manner as it omitted a number of Olympic events that Thailand was infrerior to its neighbors. Such omission of Olympic events could be seen in the exclusion of the team and all around events in artistic gymnastics as well as in the canoe sprint, cycling, diving and judo events that were left out. 

 

I also have noted that such practice has also been done by previous hosts. In 2017, while Malaysia hosted a full set of Olympic events in track cycling and diving, which they were good at, they omitted a number of Olympic events in judo, fencing, boxing and weightlifting while not hosting any rowing, wrestling, or canoeing events at all. In 2019, Philippines neglected a bunch of rowing, canoeing, cycling, sailing and table tennis events. In 2022, Vietnam omitted a number of shooting and canoeing events, while not hosting any sailing, equestrian or rugby events. 

 

To me, all countries should admit they have a part of such bad practice because it is the beginning to a solution to the problem of the host cherrypicking certain Olympic events that it wants to stage and neglected ones that they are not good at. 

 

I have previously mentioned how after the 2023 Sea games in Cambodia, the Sea games charter tried to solve such issue by placing a minimum amount of Olympic Sports that would be hosted in a sea games as well as placing a maximum amount towards the non-Olympic sports that can be hosted. 

 

This solution does not solve the core problem of the selection of the sports events in the Sea Games because it does not directly deal with the issue of the host being able to include events in certain sports that they are good at, but omitting the events within similar sports that they may not be good at. 

 

My own solution to the issue is to have an events-based solution rather than a sports-based solution. My solution is to have a requirement that a sea games host must held at least about 85 % or 90 % of the Olympic events of the subsequent Summer Olympics edition. For instance, the 2027 Sea games host must held 85 percent of the 353 events that will be competed in Los Angeles in 2028. 85% of 353 rounds up to a number of about 300 events. 

 

If a host, in this case, Malaysia cannot host certain events for reasons of lack of facilities or financial costs, it could loan out some of the events to neigboring countries to be a co-host in certain sports. For instance, as of now, Malaysia will not host certain sports like rowing, canoeing, wrestling, handball, skateboarding, sport climbing, etc. Malaysia can loan out those sports events for Thailand or Singapore to host them to ensure that it will a number of adequate amount of Olympic events will be held in the Sea games.  If a host refuses such arrangement and is not able to host a minimum amount of olympic events, then their hosting rights must be stripped away.  

 

The 85/90 percent olympic event requirement was a way to ensure that the standardization of olympic events in the sea games is about as equatable to that of the Asian Games, which usually hosts at leat 90 percent of the Olympic events that will be held. 

 

 

[dcmdtruefan 41]

In terms of the performances of the major countries in the 2025 Sea Games and how it related to their readiness for LA 2028, I think for the most part, while it might be too premature to predict how each of the regional powerhouses will preform in LA, we can start to see the formation of the core events and athletes in which each nation may have a chance to be successful at. 

 

For the host, Thailand, per usual, they have done well with boxing, weightlifting and taekwondo, while maintaining its level of excellence in badminton. Thailand will largely look at those 4 aforementioned sports as its main hopes for success for the 2026 Asian Games and 2028 Olympics. The key becomes how they can maintain the performance levels of key athletes while adding some depth to their team. 

 

Thailand also has hopes in women's golf with Jeeno Thitikul being the world no. 1 ranked golfer.

 

The other issue for Thailand is related how it can parlay its success in other sports and elevate them to at least the level of being in the top 8 or top 10 in certain events in the very least. Such sports include track and field, swimming, gymnastics, table tennis. 

 

For Indonesia, I think they have gradually develop their depth and profiency in olympic sports events with their athletics and swimming team getting better. Their olympic hopes will likely fall in the same sports they have done well in 2024 which is badminton, speed climbing and men's weightlifting with archery being a darkhorse.

 

Malaysia's slight decline in track cycling and diving in the world level means that they have to rely on badminton for its first ever gold medal. 

 

Philippines and Singapore seem to its olympics medal dreams rely on a single person (i.e. Yulo, Maeder) as while there is improvement in its overall olympic program, they only have a few athletes that they can rely on for a medal.

 

Vietnam deservedly is in second place in the olympic events medal tally as it has done well in the major sports. However, they seem to struggle to find an athlete that can be good in the global level, hence why they haven't won an Olympic medal in the past two editions.

 

A lot can change in 2.5 years. And as well as Thailand did in this past Sea games, there is a chance they might do as well in 2027 as they have to compete outside of their home country. And a declining performance might indicate a decline of their olympic sports program that may affect how it will do in 2028.