By Achong Tanjong
Tug-of-war teams from six Asean member countries arrived Sunday and yesterday to compete in the Asean Invitational Traditional Tug-of-War Championship, which is hosted for the first time by Brunei in conjunction with His Majesty's 60th birthday celebration.
The six Asean teams will be vying for the Sultan Trophy in the competition which will be held on August 5 at the Taman Hj Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien. The preliminary heats and semi-final will be held on August 2 and 3.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and members of the royal family are expected to grace the event.
The first Asean tug-of-war team to arrive on Sunday was from Vietnam, which is led by Mr Pham Quang Ban, while the other five teams arrived yesterday.
They are the Thailand team with 17 participants led by Mr Noppanat Hutacharoen, Indonesian team with 20 participants led by Asep Hanafiah/Doodi Istiwadi, the Philippine team with 21 participants led by Commissioner Leon G Montemayor, Singapore team with 20 participants led by Ang Lay Kwang and the Malaysian team is led by Mohd Zul Fadli Ahmad.
Present at the Brunei International Airport to welcome the contingents were President of Brunei Darussalam Tug-of-War Association and its Deputy President. Both are co-chairmen of the National Executive Committee of Tug-of-War Championship of His Majesty's 60th birthday celebration.
Brunei Darussalam will be represented by the Royal Brunei Police Force team, the winner in the national level tug-of-war competition held recently.
In addition to the challenge trophy, the champion team will receive B$10,000 cash, an additional trophy and individual medals. The first runner-up will get B$7,000 cash, a trophy and individual medals and the second-runner-up will walk away with B5,000 cash, a trophy and individual medals. A B$1,000 bonus will be given away to the finalists with B$500 for each round. The third to sixth placed teams will each receive a trophy and B$1,000 cash.
- Borneo Bulletin
(1st August 2006)
