According to the list of Vietnam Sports Delegations participating in the 33rd SEA Games announced by the Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports, the 5x5 basketball event will not have the service of familiar overseas Vietnamese players such as the pair of sisters Truong Thao My and Truong Thao Vy.
They are still allowed to compete in the 3x3 event, but are not eligible to compete in the 5x5 round due to changes from the home team.
Thailand applies the regulation requiring athletes competing in the 5x5 event to be recognized by FIBA as domestic players. According to this standard, players must be born in that country or have a passport before the age of 16.
If they have citizenship after this time, the athlete will be considered naturalized. This is a regulation commonly known as Hagop rule, which was introduced to limit the massive naturalization that occurred more than 10 years ago.
In FIBA tournaments, each team is only allowed to have one naturalized player, but the SEA Games depends on the host country. Some recent congresses have not limited, helping many teams such as Vietnam, Indonesia or Cambodia to significantly improve their performance.
However, at the 33rd SEA Games, Thailand decided to tighten the standard to avoid being at a disadvantage compared to strong teams in terms of naturalized forces.
This makes it impossible for many overseas Vietnamese players to participate, because most of them are only Vietnamese citizens when they are grown up. Of those who have competed internationally, only a few have met FIBA's conditions. Before the tournament, Vietnam had applied for approval of 4 new cases but only Tam Dinh was approved.
The host Thai organizing committee has announced the official competition schedule for the 33rd SEA Games basketball. The men's and women's 3x3 events will only take place on December 10 and 11. The group stage matches will be held on December 10, the semi-finals and finals will be held on December 11.
In the 3x3 event, the Vietnam men's basketball team is in Group B with the Philippines, Laos, and Malaysia. The Vietnam women's basketball team entered Group B with Singapore, Thailand, and Laos.
The 5x5 event will be held from December 13 to December 19. The Vietnamese men's team entered Group A with the Philippines and Malaysia. The Vietnam women's team is in Group A with Thailand and Indonesia.
