25th SEA Games, Laos

The Lao table tennis team is ready to take on the best opponents from neighbouring countries in events running from December 8-15 at the 25th SEA Games.

The team tested their skills at the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championship in India last month and have progressed even further since.

The Lao Table Tennis Federation selected five male and five female players to compete in the events. They are being trained by Thai and Lao experts at the federation's courts.

The federation's Secretary Ge neral, Ms Somchay Vongsa, said as well as the first team line-up six substitutes were also training for the event.

Currently the federation is installing equipment at the courts at the National University of Laos. This venue hosted the National Table Tennis Competition in September.

Technical officials qualified at the international level from India and Malaysia will assist in the competition and umpire teams from neighbouring countries will also adjudicate matches. The federation also has more than 100 staff and volunteers working at the games.

Earlier this year, the International Table Tennis Federation and the Lao National Sports Committee held a training course for federation officials.

Nine countries are sending table tennis teams to the SEA Games: Vietnam , Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Thailand , Cambodia and Laos . Brunei and Timor Leste will not compete in this sport.

All of the teams will arrive in Vientiane by December 5.

On December 6, each country will confer with umpires to assist in the running of table tennis events.

In the first round five male Lao players will compete, as well as three male players in the team event. The women's team event starts on December 8.

The women's team won a bronze medal at the ASEAN University Games in Hanoi , Vietnam , in 2006.

Many of the Lao team took part in the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

Back in the Lao history, many Lao athletes had shown their excellent performances in many international events: Ms. Soukpavanh Piathep, the first heroin from Laos won the gold medal from the World Table Tenis Championship in Mexico, Mr. Vongkot Jinda, the Lao boxer who won the bronze medal in Asian Games, Beijing, and other athletes who won many madals in the SEA Games and other international sport events.

Ms. Soukpavan Piathep revealed that in 1976, she was 16, and she was selected to be the representative from Laos to join the Table tennis championship in Mexico. There were 50 countries participated in this event, and she beat the player from Egypt to win the gold medal for Laos for the first time.

After coming back to Laos, she was warmly welcomed from all Lao and was awarded the medal from the late Lao president Soupanouvong.

Soukpavan is now 49, but she looks very healthy, due to her continuous playing sport, especially table tennis. Up to now, no table tennis player from Laos who yet stand out in the international events.

Ms. Soupavan encourages all Lao table tennis players to try their best in practicing, in order to win some medals for Laos during the upcoming 25th SEA Games that will be held in our own soils the end of this year.

Translated from Vientianemai newspaper

Photo: Ms Thibphakone Southammavong trains at the Lao Table Tennis Federation club.

The Lao table tennis team will struggle to win medals at the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane this December due to a lack of training, according to a senior official.

Secretary General of the Lao Table Tennis Federation, Mrs Somchay Vongsa, said if the national players trained regularly and competed in more international tournaments, they may have a chance of winning medals at the SEA Games in 2011.

The team has been training at the federation's club since last August.

Sixteen members of the team are training in Vientiane , while a further three are training in Bangkok , Thailand .

The squad is being guided by coaches from China , Thailand and Laos in the lead-up to the games.

Mrs Vongsa said the Lao government plans to support the federation by spending more than US$100,000 on six tables for training and a further six tables for competition, as well as some other international standard equipment from Sweden.

The federation will host the table tennis event at the National University of Laos.

The younger members of the Lao team gained some experience after competing in the 15th South East Asia Junior Championships in Bangkok , Thailand , on June 23.

Other players competed in the All Thailand table tennis tournament from June 27-29, which consisted of U-12 and open divisions.

The All Thailand event is held five times a year. The federation will send five men and five women to compete at other events in July and August.

Mrs Vongsa said the Lao team will gain good experience from the tournament, which attracts the best players in Thailand .

The federation also plans to send national players to other international tournaments in neighbouring countries before the games begin, Mrs Vongsa said.

Next year, the federation will encourage students at lower and upper secondary schools in Vientiane to take up table tennis in an effort to boost national stocks of talented players.

One member of the national team, Ms Thibphakone Southammavong, is a 21-year-old student at the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Laos.

Ms Thibphakone said the Singaporean, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian teams were very strong and included some of the best players in the world.

She said while the Lao squad may have a chance of winning a medal in the team event (three players) at the SEA Games, they will struggle for success in singles and doubles events.

Ms Thibphakone began playing table tennis in primary school and has gone on to represent her country several times. She won three gold medals in the doubles, team and mixed doubles events at the eighth National Games in Champassak province last December.

She was unsuccessful in medal attempts at the 22nd SEA Games in Vietnam in 2003 and the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007, which she attributed to nerves and lack of experience at the international level.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

Mr Mixay Phonsavanh, is another hope to win some medals from table tennis competition in Vientiane games 2009. Mr Mixy, aged 23, has been playing table tenis since he was very young, used to participate in many Lao national games and won many gold and silver medals. He also used to participate in international compititions, but could not made it to the final. From all of these experiences, and all the supports from his family and friends, he will try his best to bring some medals for Lao team.

Photo: vientianemai