Max Maeder's debut, Young Lions' big test: 5 things to look out for as Singapore begins SEA Games campaign
Singapore is sending its largest contingent to the 33rd SEA Games, with 930 athletes set to compete in 48 sports.
Clockwise from top left: Singapore's Max Maeder, Loh Kean Yew, Gan Ching Hwee and the men's under-22 football team. (File photos: Yeo's, AP, AFP, Facebook/Football Association of Singapore)
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BANGKOK: Eighteen years after it last hosted the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Korat, Thailand will once again hold the region's biggest sporting meet from Dec 9 to Dec 20.
This time around, however, things are markedly low-key in the sprawling metropolis of Bangkok where most events will be held.
Organisers recently announced they were moving venues for 10 sports to Bangkok, including men's football, because of severe flooding in Thailand's south, which has killed more than 170 people.
Neighbour Cambodia also announced its withdrawal from nine sports, citing safety concerns, as a border row with Thailand simmers.
This has meant a less-than-celebratory mood with little buzz or visible publicity ahead of the opening ceremony next Tuesday (Dec 9).
But for other nations, it is all systems go.
Singapore, for one, is sending its largest contingent to the Games, with 930 athletes set to compete in 48 sports. The men's baseball team were the first in action as they beat Laos 13-1 on Friday.
Here are five things to look out for as CNA brings you the latest from the 33rd SEA Games.
1. How will Max Maeder do in his SEA Games debut?
There are only a small group of Olympic medalists who have competed at the SEA Games and later this month, kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder will join this select tribe.
Maeder, who clinched bronze at last year’s Olympics, will be making his Games debut.
This year, the 19-year-old has not quite hit the same heights he did in 2024, but has still notched a number of title wins.
Maeder started 2025 by retaining his crown at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta and went on to also successfully defend his Formula Kite European Championships open title.
The kitefoiler also won the Sportsman of the Year title for the first time at the Singapore Sports Awards.
However, Italy’s Riccardo Pianosi has been a thorn in Maeder’s side, pipping him at the French Olympic Week event in April and the Formula Kite Youth European Championships in June.
The Singaporean also lost out to Pianosi at the Formula Kite World Championships in October, and missed out on a hat-trick of titles in the event.
At the IKA Youth World Championships in Portugal which ended on Nov 1, Maeder finished outside the top three, with Pianosi winning the event.
At the Games, Maeder should be the athlete to beat. But as we’ve seen in kitefoiling, out on the water, anything can happen.
2. Will the Young Lions fare any differently?
Singapore’s U-22 men’s football team have fared poorly at the Games over the past editions.
The team last qualified for the semi-finals in 2013. Since then, they have been eliminated from the group stage at the next five Games.
At the last edition of the Games, the Young Lions suffered a 0-7 drubbing at the hands of Causeway rivals Malaysia. That was Singapore's heaviest defeat at the Games since the competition became an age-group affair in 2001.
Earlier this year, the Young Lions were left out of the provisional list for the Games. But the team appealed successfully, playing out two closed-door friendlies, with a win and a draw, to strengthen the case for their inclusion.
The team’s recent results are worrying. They finished last in their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Asian Cup qualifying group, and rooted to the foot of the domestic league.
While it's "very easy" to dwell on poor results, head coach Firdaus Kassim told CNA last month that the team is going to the SEA Games on "a clean slate".
Late changes to the Young Lions' Games scheduling have not been ideal for preparations. The team were originally drawn in Group C to face champions Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines in Chiang Mai.
However, after the withdrawal of Cambodia, Firdaus' men have now been shifted to Group A where they will play Timor-Leste and heavyweights Thailand on Dec 6 and 11 in Bangkok.
The three group winners and the best second-placed team will advance to the semi-finals.
This means that the Young Lions will likely need to register a big victory against Timor-Leste, and hold Thailand to stand a good chance of progressing.
3. Can Singapore’s badminton players deliver an elusive gold?
Singapore will send one of their strongest squads in recent editions with the hopes of achieving a four-medal target set by the Singapore Badminton Association.
Both world number 10 Loh Kean Yew and world-ranked 18 Yeo Jia Min will feature in both the team and individual events, while the vastly improved Jason Teh will also vie for top honours.
Singapore's world number 21 Jason Teh, who won two Super 300 titles this year, will also compete in the men's singles and team events.
Loh and Teh’s biggest competition in the men’s singles will be world number three Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
The home favourite has an 8-1 winning record against Loh, and a 7-0 winning record against Teh.
Indonesia’s young star Alwi Farhan and Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao will also be tricky opponents.
Thailand look the most likely in the women’s singles with Pornpawee Chochuwong (world ranked 6) and Ratchanok Intanon (world number 8) among the big threats.
Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani, a world championships bronze medalist last year, is also ranked in the world’s top ten.
Singapore clinched three bronzes at the last edition of the Games in Cambodia, in the men's and women's team events as well as the men's doubles.
It has been 14 years since Fu Mingtian won Singapore's last SEA Games singles gold. And it has been an even longer wait for a men's singles gold – Wong Shoon Keat claimed the country's only one back in 1983.
4. Will Shanti Pereira retain her 100m and 200m titles?
For the first time in her career, Pereira will be heading into the Games as the defending champion in both the 100m and 200m events.
At the last edition of the Games in 2023, she became the first Singaporean woman to clinch a sprint double at the biennial event.
She won one gold (200m) and clinched a silver (100m) at the Asian Games later that year.
Since then, it has been an up-and-down two years for Pereira.
An injury in 2024 scuppered her preparations for the Paris Olympics, and Pereira’s times were some distance from her best.
Earlier this year, Pereira clinched two silvers at the Asian Championships in May. However, the 29-year-old missed out on a 200m semi-final spot at the World Championships in September.
The 29-year-old will be the favourite going into the events, with her main competition coming from the Philippines' Zion Corrales-Nelson and Kristina Knott.
According to World Athletics, Pereira has the fastest time clocked by any Southeast Asian woman in both events this year.
5. Can Singapore’s swim team continue their reign as powerhouse?
Singapore’s swim team has long dominated the pool at the regional level.
At the last edition of the Games, the swimmers also registered 22 golds, 15 silver medals and 10 bronze medals. In the process, they set six meet records and seven national records, and registered 19 personal bests.
At this year's edition, the headline act is likely to be Gan Ching Hwee. The 22-year-old will head to Bangkok targeting a third straight sweep of her individual freestyle events – the 200m, 400m and 800m.
Aside from her three individual events in Bangkok, she could also feature in relay events and the open water discipline.
However, a swimmer which threatens to put a major dent on Singapore’s medal tally is the Philippines' Kayla Sanchez.
Born to Filipino parents, Sanchez is a two-time Olympic medalist for Canada who in 2022 announced that she would be switching nationalities.
She is reportedly set to compete in a whopping ten events at the Games - six individual and four relays.
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