Thailand will host the 2025 South East Asian Games in December – and it has been confirmed that track cycling will return to the event programme for the first time since 2017, when Azizulhasni Awang carried the rainbow stripes to victory in Kuala Lumpur.
Keirin will be one of four events for men, according to the proposed schedule recently posted online. But women will only have a single event, a scratch race.
The SEA Games began as the South East Asian Peninsular Games in 1959, with events taking place in every odd-numbered year since 1965 – apart from the COVID-delayed 2021 event, held in 2022.
Indonesia and Thailand are historically the strongest countries in the 11-nation group, although recent events have seen medal tables topped by Malaysia, the Philippines, and most recently Vietnam in 2023.
SEA Games hosts have considerable freedom to choose the sports to be included in their programme. Cycling has been a regular fixture, but track cycling has not been part of a SEA Games since 2017 – largely as a result of host countries lacking a suitable velodrome, and with little prospect of home success.
Thailand has no indoor track – only four 333m outdoor concrete tracks – but it has highly-rated sprinters in Paris Olympian Jai Angsuthasawit, currently ranked just outside the world’s top 40; and Norasetthada Bunma, who took silver in sprint at 2024’s World Junior Championships in Luoyang, China.
There hasn’t yet been an official statement that the Hua Mak track in Bangkok will host the competition, but it’s the only one in the three regions nominally hosting the SEA Games; and it has previously hosted the Asian Games and other continental-level events.
It’s reported to be fairly lumpy, but it’s where Bunma trains, and it clearly hasn’t done him any harm. Outdoor racing will of course bring a whole new dynamic to the event, but conditions in December shouldn’t be too extreme.
Malaysia will almost certainly be the home nation’s biggest threat, even without the retired (?) Azizulhasni Awang. Their track scene is flourishing, with two sprinters in the world top 30 – brothers Shah Firdaus and Ridwan Sahrom – as well as Fadhil Zonis and Akmal Jusena, who will line up with Ridwan in team sprint at the Asian Games later this month.
Indonesia and Singapore are entering a period of transition, with veteran riders like Admadi Puguh and Elyas Yusoff heading into retirement.
Singapore’s eyes are already on 2029’s SEA Games, which they will be hosting: they have hired Shayne Bannan, formerly of Cycling Australia and co-founder of the GreenEdge road team, as their national high performance director, and they could have a new indoor velodrome at Kallang by 2027.
The Philippines will also have a new indoor 250m facility soon, having recently dismantled their only track at Quezon City.
Malaysia will host the SEA Games in 2027, so it’s safe to assume track cycling – and keirin specifically – will be present next time too.
Huge thanks to Luke Romero, preparing to represent the Philippines at Thailand 2025, for his help in compiling this article!