25th SEA Games, Laos

First check of SEA Games complex set for April


Photo: The SEA Games main stadium as it looked last month, with construction now about 80 percent complete.

All facilities at the 25th SEA Games sports complex are now more than 80 percent complete, site manager Kiengkham Phoutchanhthavongsa said yesterday.

“We are confident that construction of all venues at the site will be finished by the end of March. We are now putting the finishing touches to the facilities at each venue, installing furniture and building roads around the complex,” he said.

“When construction is finished, there will be three months of checks of the facilities at all venues in the complex to make sure everything is functioning properly. The schedule of tests runs from April to June, after which we will hand over the complex to the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee.”

The 125-hectare sports complex is located in Dongsanghine village, Xaythany district, Vientiane , and houses the main stadium with a seating capacity of 20,000, which will be used for the football and track and field events and for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Other venues at the site comprise two indoor stadiums, each with a seating capacity of 3,000, an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, and a shooting range.

Construction began on October 28, 2007, under a contract with the China Yunnan Construction Engineering Group Corporation. The cost of construction is more than US$80 million and has been arranged through a joint cooperation project between the Lao government and the China Development Bank.

The upgrading of other facilities, including indoor and football stadiums to be used for competition and training, is also in progress.

Meanwhile, work has finished on a new sports training centre on an 11-hectare site in Sikeud village, Naxaithong district.

The centre cost more than 35 billion kip (US$4 million) to build, financed by grant aid from the government of Vietnam . An opening ceremony will be held on January 18.

The centre comprises an office, sleeping quarters for athletes, a running track and playing field, a football pitch, a gymnasium and other facilities for sporting events. Up to 200 athletes will be able to train there every day.

Construction is also in progress on the athletes' village, which is located on a 42,000sqm site at the Dongdok campus, National University of Laos. It is scheduled for completion in August.

By Sisay Vilaysack

Laos will host 26 sports in SEA Games



KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have clarified that Laos will host 26 sports and not 25 in the SEA Games from Dec 9-18.

The OCM secretary general, Datuk Sieh Kok Chi, said that recent reports were wrong and gave a picture that some sports had been dropped arbitrarily by the hosts.

“Some even claim that archery, cycling and weightlifting were omitted from the programme of the 25th Games in Vientiane,” he said.

“At the last SEA Games Federation Council meeting on Nov 13, the final list of sports and events approved and announced were 25 sports and 390 events. This is wrong as the Games organising committee had wrongly included soft tennis as part of tennis. Soft tennis has to be considered a different sport from tennis because it comes under the jurisdiction of a different international federation. Hence the total number of sports in the Games is 26 and 390 events.”

Kok Chi added that for archery, there will be eight events — four more than in the Olympic Games with the inclusion of the compound bows competitions for men’s and women’s team and individual.

“There will be no track cycling events as Laos do not have a velodrome but road cycling and mountain bike racing have been included with a total of eight gold medals at stake,” he said.

“The hosts have not taken advantage of selecting sports in which they are strong in because irrespective of what sports they choose, Laos will not be among the top five in the final medal standings.

“The sports dropped are based on non-availability of international standard competition venues, lack of equipment, the non-existence of their national sports associations for a large number of sports, insufficient internationally qualified judges and technical officials and insufficient human and financial resources.”

Basketball and waterpolo may still be included as there are discussions on the Philippines and Singapore to fund them at the Games.

The sports in the Games programme are athletics, archery, swimming, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karate, sepak takraw, shooting, soft tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, wushu, muay thai, petanque, silat, shuttlecock and fin swimming.

SOurce: thestar

Photo: Mr Somsavat Lengsavad speaks at the sports committee's office.

Athlete transport and accommodation, public health and media coverage were some of the items on the agenda of the Lao National Sports Committee when it met yesterday to discuss preparations for the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The SEA Games will be held in Vientiane in December 2009, marking the first time Laos has hosted the event.

SEA Games Organising Committee Chairman and Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, spoke at the meeting and said Lao people would be proud the country was capable of planning such a large sporting event.

“Our target is to win 25 gold medals, but the athletes will have to win fairly,” he said.

“We will not stand for any cheating, especially involving drugs. If we find out that any referee has been biased then we will reprimand them.”

More than 700 cars and buses will be used to transport athletes and officials during the SEA Games, which will run from December 9-18.

Mr Somsavat said transport links were currently being upgraded and the new national football stadium in Xaythany district of Vientiane was finished and ready to use.

Lao sports officials are now selecting the best athletes in their respective sports, and China has offered to train some Lao athletes ahead of the event.

Away from the sporting field, the committee will make its final selection of female ambassadors for the SEA Games on New Year's Eve, when it will crown a number of young women with the title of Miss SEA Games.

The committee will meet again on Friday to discuss the budget for the games.

Also attending the meeting was Minister to the Prime Ministers Office and Lao National Sports Committee President, Dr Phouthong Seng-akhom, and other deputy ministers.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

Officials from the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee and Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sport met on Wednesday in Vientiane to discuss preparations for the 2009 SEA Games. –Photo Sisay

The Lao SEA Games Organising Committee (LAOSOC) met with delegates from the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports in Vientiane on Wednesday to discuss progress on preparations for the 25th SEA Games.

The meeting was chaired by Lao National Sports Committee Vice President, Mr Somphou Phongsa, and the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports' Permanent Secretary Dr Sasithara Pichaichannarong.

The two sides discussed preparations for the games including the compilation of competition technical teams, construction of training and competition facilities, traffic and transport arrangements, volunteer organisers, television broadcasting and accommodation for athletes and officials.

Thai officials reported on the progress of an indoor stadium upgrade which the Thai government is providing 43 billion kip (179 million baht) funding for. The stadium in Beungkhayong village, Sisattanak district of Vientiane will host the shuttlecock and muay events during the games.

The facility is on track for completion in October next year, the meeting was told.

Mr Somphou, on behalf of LAOSOC, thanked the Thai government for its support in upgrading the Beungkhayong indoor stadium and other preparations for the event, which will be held in December 2009.

“In preparing for the games we have also received generous support from other neighbouring countries including Vietnam and China ,” he said.

Last month a meeting of the SEA Games Federation decreed the event would consist of 390 events across the 25 sports of athletics, aquatic sports (swimming, diving and water polo), archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karatedo, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and soft tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, muay, fin swimming, petanque, shuttlecock and pencak silat.

Competition venues are the national sports complex at Km 16 in Dongsanghin village, Xaythany district; Don Chan Palace; Booyoung and Olympasia indoor stadiums at the National University of Laos; Lao International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre; Chao-anouvong stadium in Anou village, Chanthabouly district; the Army stadium at Km 5 and the Vientiane Sports Department in Beungkhayong village, Sisattanak district.



By Sisay Vilaysack

Patuxay clock will count down to SEA Games


Photo: Victory gate or Patouxay in the heart of Vientiane, Laos

A clock will be installed at the Patuxay Monument in Vientiane on New Year's Eve to start the countdown to the SEA Games in December next year.

Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Bouangeun Saphouvong said the installation of the clock would be a spectacular event and would also include the official presentation of 100 Miss SEA Games representatives to the public.

“We have already set up a committee to organise the event. The start of the countdown will be one of the biggest events ever staged at Patuxay,” he said.

Several songs composed especially for the SEA Games will also be introduced to the public for the first time on New Year's Eve.

Mr Bouangeun said popular older and younger singers would be invited to take part in the celebrations.

Members of the public and VIP guests can reserve tables at the event, which will feature a variety of entertainment shows and activities. Mascots and SEA Games souvenirs will be on sale during the evening.

More than 180 women applied to be Miss SEA Games, and the committee has chosen 100 of them to participate in the games next year. They will be trained how to interact with and greet guests politely, walk elegantly, speak English, and acquire general knowledge in preparation for the event.

Eleven country placard bearers will be selected from the 100 representatives to take part in the stadium parade that precedes the games.

After the countdown clock is installed, fireworks will light up the sky to mark the occasion and bring in the New Year.

By Phonesavanh Sangsomboun
Vientianetimes

Photo: Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad ( left ), who is also Chairman of the 2009 SEA Games Organising Committee, presents an invitation to the games to the head of the Vietnamese delegation to the SEAGF Council Meeting, Mr Nguyen Danh Thai. Mr Thai accepted the invitation on behalf of all Vietnamese competitors in the games.

Invitations to athletes and delegates to attend the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane next year have been given to all members of the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF).

The official invitations were handed over at a ceremony last week in Vientiane as Asean nations' sports heads attended the SEAGF Council Meeting from November 11 to 13

The invitations were presented by Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who is also Chairman of the 25th SEA Games Organising Committee, and received by a representative from each country.

It is the custom for each SEA Games host nation to issue a formal invitation to inform each participating country the games will take place on the stated date.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad expressed his thanks to all SEAGF members for their support for Laos in hosting the 25th SEA Games and said he looked forward to seeing athletes and delegates from each country attending the games.

During the presentation of the invitations, Mr Somsavat told SEAGF sports heads that construction of facilities for the games was going well.

The complex to be used for competitions and training for several sports events and for the opening and closing ceremonies will be complete by March 2009, while other facilities will also be finished on time. The 25th SEA Games will be ready for the opening date in December 2009.

Mr Somsavat congratulated SEAGF sports heads on the successful meeting of council members in Vientiane .



The SEA Games organising committee confirmed the main stadium, located at Km 16 in Dongsanghin village, Xaythany district, is currently 70 percent complete.

Construction of other facilities is nearing completion. The athletes' village is about 15 percent complete, but is expected to be finished by next August.




Photos: The athletes' village at National University of Laos.

The athletes' village is on a 42,000sqm site at the Dongdok campus, National University of Laos. The village comprises 10 buildings and other auxiliary facilities. Eight four-storey buildings with international standard facilities will contain 1,000 rooms and accommodate 4,000 athletes. A single-storey building will house a canteen and a three-storey building will contain multi-purpose management offices.

Vientianetimes

(KPL) Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad, Standing Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Organising Committee for 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 2009) presented on 12 November an invitation card to the representative of 10 ASEAN member country for 25th SEA Games.

Chairman of the SEA Games Federation Council meeting Dr Phouthong Sengakhom (third right) speaks to delegates from other members of the federation. –Photo Sangkhomsay

The SEA Games Federation (SEAGF) has approved 390 events in 25 sports to be scheduled at next year's 25th SEA Games in Laos .

The SEAGF council met in Vientiane yesterday with leaders of federations from member nations to finalise events for the games, after two days of discussion.

SEAGF Council Chairman Dr Phouthong Sengakhom said the meeting covered sports for competition and TV rights for next year's games, plans for the 50th anniversary of SEAGF, establishment of a SEAGF coordinating office, progress of preparations for the 2009 games, and potential host nations for the next games in 2011.

Dr Phouthong, who is also President of the Lao National Sports Committee and Lao National Olympic Committee, said the meeting had agreed that Laos would organise a ceremony to celebrate SEAGF's 50th anniversary in Vientiane in June next year.

At the meeting, Lao officials presented a progress report on preparations for the games including sporting venues, accommodation for athletes and officials, the media centre, and transport and traffic arrangements.

The games will run from December 9 and 18, with the opening ceremony to take place on December 13.

Dr Phouthong thanked SEAGF members for supporting Laos in hosting the games, as well as the governments of Vietnam and Thailand for supporting the construction of infrastructure for the games.

The 25 sports to be contested at the games are athletics, aquatic sports (swimming, diving and water polo), archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karatedo, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and soft tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, muay, fin swimming, petanque, shuttlecock and pencak silat.

Competition venues include the national sports complex at Km 16 in Dongsanghin village, Xaythany district; Don Chan Palace ; Booyoung and Olympasia indoor stadiums

Vientianetimes