25th SEA Games, Laos

Noy Sengsouriya, English TV program's announcer in Laos

The Lao SEA Games Organising Committee yesterday declared it will organise a contest to select public announcers to be involved in the games this December.

Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Information and Culture's Performing Arts Department, Mrs Somchith Phomsavanh said the search is on for male and female comperes.


Mrs Somchith Phomsavanh.
Those selected will make public announcements during the opening and closing ceremonies of the games.

“We have not placed a limit on the number of applications that will be accepted because we want many people to enter so the committee can easily select the most talented announcers,” said Mrs Somchith, who is also a member of the organising committee.

“However, the committee will select only four male and four female announcers to be involved in the opening and closing ceremonies of the SEA Games,” she said.

“Those selected will have the very important role of making public announcements, including the introduction of programmes, during the opening and closing ceremonies.”

“Announcements will be made in both Lao and English, so obviously entrants need to have very good skills in both those languages.”

“Additionally, all applicants must be well-presented, aged between 18 and 30 and be at least 1.50 metres in height for females and 1.65m for males,” she explained.

The committee welcomes all professional and amateur announcers and also encourages Lao students who have recently returned from studying abroad to apply.

The opening ceremony of the 25th SEA Games will be held on December 9, with the closing ceremony to be held on December 18.

The games will involve athletes from the 11 nations of Laos , Vietnam , Cambodia , Brunei , Thailand , Malaysia , Indonesia , Myanmar , Philippines , Singapore , and Timor Leste.

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

Applications for the contest are open from August 20 to September 20. Those seeking more information can call 212419, 911480 or 020 9849414.

By Sisay Vilaysack
Vientianetimes

Media is set to benefit with Lao National Television (LNTV) to provide an information centre during the 25th SEA Games to be held in Vientiane this December.

LNTV Director, Dr Bounchom Vongphet reported the International Broadcasting Centre would be set up at Km 5 Chommany village, Xaithany district, Vientiane .

“The centre will provide information and broadcasts to viewers including the opening and closing ceremonies as well as live broadcasts of many popular sports during the games.

“Foreign and local journalists can get all the necessary information at the centre,” he explained.

LNTV plans to broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as 17 of the 25 sports.

“We will choose the most popular sports to broadcast on channels 1 and 3. We will cooperate with Lao Star Channel to broadcast 10 hours per day, but Lao Star Channel will take only two hours per day,” Dr Bounchom said.

“We also plan to report results through both national television stations early in each hour.”

LNTV officials have organised four training courses for cameramen and producers to ensure the best quality broadcasting possible.

Meanwhile they are continuing to train their staff to cover the biggest ever sporting event to come to Laos .

“We will have 11 news teams to report on all the daily competition from the stadiums through fibre-optic and microwave links to the centre.

“Now, many staff still need to improve their skills before the games,” he said.

He added that Laos would be the first country to sell SEA Games live-broadcasting rights to other television stations in various countries in the region.

“We can say that because the SEA games committees meeting in Vientiane agreed to sell the rights.

“This October, there will be many TV companies from neighbouring countries and we will have to have agreements for live broadcasting.

“The committee has agreed that a newly established company must identify the price of broadcasting rights,” Dr Bounchom explained.

He said broadcasters would require 17 outside broadcasting ( OB ) vans for the games.

“Now we have only four OB van in Laos , so we will rent 10 OB vans from Thailand , two from Vietnam and one from Singapore .”

Meanwhile, Lao National Radio (LNR) is also busy preparing staff to report on the games.

LNR Director-General Sipha Nonglath said the organisation would follow similar broadcasting strategies to those of LNTV.

“What is different is training officials on how to cover sports events for radio, as well as how to improve sports reporting through the radio to make it more interesting for listeners,” he said.

He said online reports in Lao, English, French and Hmong languages would ensure people around the world stay up dated during the games.



By Souknilundon Southivongnorath
Vientianetimes