25th SEA Games, Laos

Two professional volleyball coaches from China are helping the Lao men's and women's volleyball and beach volleyball teams to prepare for the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane in December.

The coaches, Mr Yin Ming and Mrs Qin Wensui, are former Chinese national volleyball representatives and have both coached popular clubs in China .

Mr Yin, who works for the Beijing City Sports Office, arrived in Vientiane last week and will train the men's and women's volleyball teams.

Mrs Qin comes from the Beijing City Club and arrived in Vientiane last month to train the men's and women's beach volleyball teams.

Secretary of the Lao Volleyball Federation, Mr Sychan Chitpanya, said the federation received assistant from the Chinese government to support the teams in their preparation for the games.

The coaches will lead the teams until after the games. This is the first time the Lao national teams have been trained by a foreign coach.

The teams will find it challenging to win a medal at the games as they lack experience at the international level and have not had a regular training programme in the past. Mrs Qin is currently training the men's and women's beach volleyball teams at the Sports Training Centre in Sikeuth district.

The volleyball teams have been training at the Nongtha village indoor courts in Chanthabouly district since March.

When the indoor stadium at Dongsanghin village in Xaythany district (Km16) is finished in October the volleyball teams will begin training there.

There are presently 15 men and 15 women players training with the squad, but the federation will select two final squads of 12 players each to compete at the games.

The teams will travel to Vietnam and Thailand for training in July and August, when they will also compete in friendly matches against those countries.

At a friendly tournament in Phnom Penh , Cambodia , last week, the women's beach volleyball team was defeated 2-0 in each of their matches against Cambodia and Vietnam .

Players in all the squads come from the Vientiane , Xieng Khuang, Borikhamxay, Savannakhet and Champassak provincial teams as well as the Ministry of National Defence team. They were selected after the eighth National Games held in Champassak province last December.


By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes

Grass is to be planted in the main football stadium to be used in the 25th SEA Games in December, along with the installation of an electronic scoreboard and seating.

This work is scheduled for the end of June, by which time there should be enough rain to make the grass grow quickly and abundantly.

The Lao National Sports Committee (LNSC) will carry out an inspection of the stadium, located at Km 16, after the grass, scoreboard and seating are in place.

The Industrial Park Overseas Investment Co Ltd and the China Yunnan Construction Engineering Group Corporation have decided not to plant any grass yet because of the difficulty of growing a healthy pitch in the dry season.

The corporation has now finished 95 percent of the stadium, with more than 1,045 Chinese workers and more than 400 Lao workers involved in the construction process at a cost of more than US$100 million. A ceremony to hand over the stadium to the Lao government will take place in September.

Ahead of the games, the LNSC will hold competitions to test out the venues and athletes.

Standing Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the 25th SEA Games Organising Committee, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, and senior LNSC officials on Friday inspected the progress made on the stadium, golf course, main access road and athletes' accommodation.

The access road is 75 percent complete and will be landscaped in May.

Engineers from the two companies are finding it difficult to dig drainage channels and install electricity around the main stadium and other venues.

Mr Somsavat suggested a Ministry of Public Works and Transport committee should cooperate in these areas of work.

He said water and electricity installation would have to be finished next month in order for the remaining work to continue smoothly.

At present 19 officials are managing the construction of the main football stadium, two indoor stadiums, swimming pool, shooting field, tennis courts and beach volleyball site.

Mr Somsavat said the LNSC should assign more than this number of officials because 19 people were not enough to ensure security.

The LNSC will hold friendly football matches with teams from neighbouring countries ahead of the games to help improve the national team and test out the stadium.

The committee will hold a Pre-SEA Games to test the various venues and teams before the actual games begin in December.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes