25th SEA Games, Laos

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

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will offer technical and coaching assistance to Laos, who will host the SEA Games for the first time next year.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the Laotian organisers had made an official request to Malaysia to provide help from as early as December.

“The SEA Games will be the biggest event Laos has ever hosted and they mentioned that they lacked the experience to run the show, especially in the technical and coaching areas,” said Ismail at the ministry’s Hari Raya open house at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

“We have agreed to help them. This is not a problem as we have hosted bigger sporting events like the Commonwealth Games.

“We will send relevant technical officials and coaches to help them prepare for the SEA Games. They have also requested for their technical officials to come to Malaysia on attachments for six months with the National Sports Council and relevant sports associations.”

Meanwhile, Ismail hoped the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) would help to fight for the inclusion of certain Olympic sports that Laos had dropped from their Games programme.

“The SEA Games should be the first step towards identifying athletes with potential to compete at the Olympic level. This is followed by the Asian Games.
“But we have seen the tendency for hosts to include other sports in which they feel that they will do well.”

Laos had listed only 25 sports compared to 43 sports plus two demonstration sports in the previous Games programme in Thailand.

The Olympic sports, among them women’s basketball, cycling, archery and gymnastics, have been excluded at the expense of fin swimming, muay thai and shuttlecock kicking.
A decision on the final list of sports will be made after the SGF’s meeting next month.