25th SEA Games, Laos

The Lao national karatedo team is hopeful of success at the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane this December after winning a bronze medal in the last games in Thailand in 2007.

Marketing Manager of Lao Asia Pacific Breweries, Mr Kelvin Tan, presented US$10,000 to Vice President of the Lao Karatedo Federation, Dr Sonethanou Thammavong, in Vientiane on Tuesday.

Mr Tan said the funding would go towards assisting karatedo athletes prepare for the games.

Dr Sonethanou said the funding would support the team undertake training and purchase some equipment.

The squad has been training for the games since February, and consists of 14 men and 12 women in various weight divisions.

Later this month the team will enter a training camp at the National Sports Training Centre.

The federation will send some fighters to train in Hanoi , Vietnam from September to November.

They will replace 14 athletes who have been training in Hanoi since April.

The men in the national squad will compete in the 55, 60 to 80kg weight categories at the games, and women in the 47, 53 to over 60kg divisions.

The team will also compete in the dancing event, which consists of singles and team categories, as well as in the fighting event.

Two international karatedo tournaments will be held in Phuket province, Thailand in August in order to test the squad's skills before the games.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

Brewery continues to back Lao sport

The Lao Brewery Company, producer of Beerlao, announced the four major sports it intends to sponsor at the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane this December.

It will support the four sports in which it feels Laos has the best medal hopes: football, muay lao, pétanque and taekwondo.

The company made the announcement at a press conference on April 10.

Company Managing Director Kissana Vongsay said all the staff at the company were proud to work for a company which was a major sponsor of the games and were fully supportive of Lao athletes.

“The company has contributed almost 20 billion kip towards games preparation, and we believe these funds will inspire all Lao people around the country to be of one heart, united in cheering on our athletes to glory at the games,” Mr Kissana said.

Also present at the announcement was Muay Lao Federation Secretary Phon Keochomsy. He said muay was a popular martial art in many countries of the world, and had been part of the SEA Games since 2004.

Laos achieved one gold and three silver medals at the games in the Philippines , and went on to secure one gold, three silver and four bronze medals at the last SEA Games, which were held in Thailand .



“This year Laos hosts the games so we are practising furiously to prepare our kick-boxers. We want to win as many medals as we can. We believe we can win at least four gold medals in December,” Mr Phon said.

For his part, Lao Football Federation President Phouvanh Vongsouthi said although the Lao football team's form had been less than encouraging of late, this time the Lao football team will fight to reach the semi-finals of the SEA Games.

“Our footballers are under 23 years old. Compared with other footballing nations in the region Lao football is still not strong enough, but I believe our team will do their best for the Lao people.”

Mr Phouvanh said the players were determined to improve their results and rise to the challenge as they will be on home soil. They were practising diligently both at home and abroad and the team is currently training in Vietnam .

Players of two other sports, pétanque and taekondo, also hold out hopes of medals for Laos .

A new Beerlao television commercial featuring leading muay lao kick-boxers was launched following the announcement.

By Souknilundon Southivongnorath
Vientianetimes

VIENTIANE, March 23 (Bernama) -- The Muay Lao Federation last week has signed an agreement with the Lao Brewery Company (LBC), which company supported the federation's preparations for the 25th SEA Games 2009 in Vientiane, Lao news agency (KPL) reported Monday.

Vice President of the Lao National Sports Committee, Somphou Phongsa, who is also a member of the 25th SEA Games Organising Committee and the representative from LBC as well as the officials of both sides, attended the signing ceremony.

LBC has agreed to provide more than 41.5 million kip (US$5,000) to help the federation prepare athletes for the games, which will take place in Vientiane from 9-18 December.

Somphou, on behalf of the committee and federation, thanked LBC for supporting the Muay Lao team and other sports federations.

"The Muay Lao team is a major medal contender for the games and the federation and athletes will work hard towards success," he said. Muay Lao in the national sports of Laos, similar to Thai kickboxing.

LBC recently signed agreements to provide sporting equipment to the taekwondo, petanque and football federations for their preparations for the games.

Photo: Plastic seats in the stadium of thailand

(KPL) The Saplast Vientiane Company, Vietnamese investor has hoped to produce plastic seats for equipping with in the new stadium for the host of 25th SEA Games.
According to Mr Huynhtan Phuoc, Director of Saplast Vientiane Company disclosed last week that our company sent a selling proposal of plastic seats and bins with a reasonable price to the Lao government.

He said that this proposal is a part of efforts to promote the domestic goods and also able to decrease the volume of imported goods especially plastic tools. One more reason if the Lao government adopted our proposal, the foreign currency would not flow out the country.

This company is currently the leading supplier plastic tools to local market, he said. All our products are high quality and international standard.
The company was established in Laos, January 2005 under bilateral cooperation between Vietnamese and Lao governments, with registered investment was around US$ 1.3 million.

Top kick-boxers will display their fighting prowess in friendly Muay Lao bouts, to be jointly organised by the Lao National Sports Committee and the Vientiane Sports Division in March.

The bouts will take place in a newly built ring on Thadeua Road in That Khao village, sponsored by the ST Group of Companies, and will be telecast live on Lao National Television at 8.30pm every Friday.

“The broadcasts will help make Muay Lao more popular and encourage newcomers to the sport. We also plan to hold more boxing and pencak silat (a traditional Indonesian martial art) tournaments in the future,” said organising committee member, Mr Vanhxay Baophom.

“If we get a lot of spectators, we will certainly be organising more events,” said Mr Vanhxay.

At present the regular bouts held at Sokxay ring every Saturday are telecast live on the Lao Star channel.

“Sokxay ring, which has seen a lot of action in the past, was the first ever to be built for Muay Lao by the sports federation; this ring at That Khao built by the Vientiane Sports Division will be a welcome addition,” Mr Vanhxay said.

“The new ring will certainly help in the training of young boxers to get them to the level of the national team and ready for competition in the 25 th SEA Games in 2009,” he said.

“The young kick-boxers are very interested in fighting here at That Khao, as well as at Sokxay,” he said.

The ST Group has been the major sponsor for most competitions held at Sokxay ring in the past. They are currently looking to construct an indoor stadium to be used exclusively for Muay Lao in Vientiane later this year.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

(KPL) The Lao Brewery Company (LBC) has made a decision to support US$1 million for the Lao PDR to be the host of the 25th SEA Games in 2009.

This is according to a signing ceremony among the LBC, Phethchampa Advertising Company, RSBs Companies on 22 August at Done Chan Palace Hotel.

The signing ceremony of the patronisation was witnessed by Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad and President of the Lao National Sports Committee, Dr. Phouthong Seng-akhom.
The LBC’s support will cover the 25th SEA Games activities becoming main sponsor of Laos and for the 25th SEA Games.

Laos has scheduled to be the host of the 25th SEA Games in 2009 but now it is a big challenge for the first time of the Laos, particularly the preparing plan which is quite poor in order to avoiding bad feedback from society in the nation and overseas.

The preparing plan should be made better than current situation, said an official concerned.

Laos has no experience to organise the big event like the SEA Games if this job’s output was good it would raise the reputation of the country to the international stage, an official of the Lao National Sports Committee continued.

At present, the Government has received constantly from private companies, international organisations and friendly countries for preparing the 2009 SEA Games.

Source: kpl