25th SEA Games, Laos

Members of the Lao Handicraft Group and Women's Union of Tanmixay village in Xaythany district are sculpting replicas of the Lao national flower (white frangipani) and flower pots for sale during the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane this year.

Currently, the group and union have more than 60 people able to make about 300,000 flowers and more than 1,000 flower pots.

Their target is to produce 600,000 flowers and about 1 million pots, which will come in three different styles.

They are promoting these products around the country from this month until December 31. The flowers will be pinned with the SEA Games logos of That Luang and Champa and Champi.

At the Lao National Sports Committee office on Monday, the SEA Games Marketing and Benefit Committee's Vice President, Mr Chanpheng Siratana, signed an agreement with the handicraft group's representative Mr Bouala Phanthavong.

Mr Bouala said Laos is honoured to host the games and would like to promote the national flower to visitors, who will keep the flowers as souvenirs.

Making the flowers also assists in promoting Lao peoples' skills during the games. A portion of the income from the sales will support the games.

The handicraft group uses more than 1 billion kip for sculpting the flowers and pots. One flower costs 7,500 kip, while the cost of a flower pot ranges from 300,000 to 3 million kip. The flowers and pots are made of a mixture of clay and flour.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

In welcoming the upcoming New Year, all Lao sports fans will not only celebrate the 43rd anniversary of sport in this country, but also hope that celebrations will motivate Lao athletes to success at the 25th South East Asian (SEA) Games as host nation for 2009.

Laos’ main hope as hosts of the SEA Games will be an overwhelming home team advantage that will result in more gold medals and improve on the country’s performance in previous games. Apart from international competitions such as the SEA Games, the country’s main arena for sports is the National Games.

According to the Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Somsavat Lengsavad, who spoke at the closing of the 2008 National Games on December 22, this year’s event was a great experience for officials, athletes and coaches in their preparation for the 25th SEA Games, which will take place in Laos next year.

This year’s eighth National Games was hosted by Champassak province for the second time, and the number of athletes and sports have increased dramatically since the first games in 1985. The main goals of the National Games are not only for development of sport, but also to promote and strengthen friendship between athletes, competitors and supporters from different parts of the country.

The founding day for Lao sports was July 13, 1966, as declared at the third congress of the Lao National Sports Committee (LNSC). This was also the day the Lao People’s Army’s sports division was officially opened at a base in Huaphan province. This was an important milestone in the history of Lao sport. Five months later, athletes competed in an international event for the first time when they went to the Games of New Force in Cambodia. Laos sent 22 athletes who competed in shooting and volleyball events.

Since the country’s liberation in 1975, sports have greatly contributed to national protection and development. Lao sports have expanded into local communities throughout the country. Sport plays an important role in international relations and participation in international competitions brings awareness and success for the country. Since 1975, the Lao government has been developing sport by training coaches and administration officers.

The LNSC held the first National Games in 1985 in Vientiane. There were 650 athletes from five zones and eight ministries competing in 12 sporting events. Vientiane came top of the final medal tally. The second National Games were hosted by Savannakhet province in 1987. Again there were 12 sports events, but athlete numbers had risen to more than 1,376 from seven zones and nine ministries. The capital city’s team retained their winner’s title.



From then on the National Games were to be held every three years in different provinces, but sometimes the games were delayed because of funding problems. The third National Games took place in Khammuan province in 1991 and was attended by 920 athletes from nine zones competing in 11 sports. In 1994, the fourth National Games was hosted by Champassak province, and attracted 1,600 athletes. Competitors took part in 14 sports and came from nine zones, while the leader of the medal tally was Vientiane again. In 1997, the event was hosted by Luang Prabang province and athlete numbers continued to grow. This time the event attracted 1,668 athletes from 10 zones, competing in 14 sports. The Vientiane team finished on top.

The sixth National Games were held in Vientiane in 2000. For the first time, the number of athletes competing was over 3,000 and the number of sports had increased to 28. The Vientiane team retained its top ranking. The seventh National Games was hosted by Savannakhet province in 2005 and attended by teams from 17 provinces and 13 ministries. This time there were 22 sports and 3,257 athletes. Vientiane again won the final medal tally.

This year’s eighth National Games ran from December 13-22 in Champassak province, and ended with big surprises as the home team claimed the top ranking in the final medal tally. For the first time ever, previous champions Vientiane slumped to third place. This time, about 6,000 athletes competed in 24 sports, representing 17 provinces, 10 ministries and two organisations.

SISAY VILAYSACK
Vientianetimes

Photo: New stadium in Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang and Champassak provinces are repairing their football stadiums and other locations required for use during the 25 th SEA Games, to be held in Laos next year.

The Lao National Sports Committee has selected the two provinces to host the football events, and is urging them to have everything ready in time.

Two years ago the sports committee agreed Savannakhet province would stage the men's football matches, because there was a new stadium of the required standard and a seating capacity of 15,000.

The province had earlier hosted the 7 th National Games in 2005.

But it was later realised it would be difficult for spectators to travel to Savannakhet province as transport there was less reliable, according to an official in Vientiane last month.

The committee has since agreed to stage the matches in Champassak province, because of its better transport, including a larger airport.

Champassak has been allocated more than 7 billion kip for stadium improvements, to bring seating capacity up to 13,000. Work began in February in 2007 and is slated for completion in September.

The province will also host the 8 th National Games in December.

The committee will also grant more than 26 billion kip (US$30 million) to Luang Prabang province to repair the old football stadium, and will build new football training fields to be used for the SEA Games' women's football matches.

This work will begin in June and expand seating in the stadium to a capacity of 10,000. The stadium was originally built in 1996 for the 5 th National Games.

Luang Prabang is still awaiting 7 billion kip from the government to improve a 4.5km road around the stadium, and provide adequate transport for visitors to the city during the football events.

“We have received about 5 billion kip for road repairs from the Thai government,” said the Director of the Public Works and Transport Division, Mr Fasananh Thammavong.

Most of the construction is in the vicinity of Phousy market and is taking place from March to August.

There are plenty of parking spaces nearby, on a piece of land 1km long and 400m wide.

The airport, which was renovated in 2000, is expected to be able to cope with the increased passenger load.

“We received more than 55 billion kip from the Thai government to renovate the old airport,” said Mr Fasananh.

Source: Vientianetimes