Yuuwakai Association helps Lao Karatedo Federation to build new training center
(KPL) The Yuuwakai Association of Japan will provide its grant aid worth about 10 million yen to build the Karatedo training center in Laos.
This was a part of contribution from Yuuwakai Association to improve the standards of Lao Karatedo fighters.
The statement was released during the courtesy visit to Mr. Vilayvong Boudakham, Vice Secretary General of Lao Central Youth Union of Yuuwakai Association delegation led by its president Watanabe Shinichi.
The Yuuwakai association delegation arrived Vientiane on 4 August for a two day working visit to Laos.
The delegation was warmly welcomed by Mr. Phongsavat Bouphan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who is also honorary president of Lao Karatedo federation.
20% of grant aid will be used to construct the first phase of office and training center, which will begin in September, while the remainder will be use to fund the second and third phases of construction.
Photo: Vientiane in rush hour(KPL) The coming 25th SEA Games which Laos will host in Champassak in 2009, is expected to have a monetary flow of at least USD 10 million in the southernmost province.Mr Soukkaseum Phothisane, Deputy President of the Lao National Tourism Administration (LNTA) revealed that the preparedness of the upcoming 25th SEA Games saw progressively as the plan of the Lao government in its effort to strengthen the solidarity, culture, economy and friendship among different countries. Therefore the LNTA has also prepared various facilities for serving domestic and foreign visitors. He said that we were disseminating the preparatory services for people who run tourism business to understand the importance of being the host of upcoming SEA Games in order to ensure that visitors will be satisfied with the service. The Lao’s SEA Games will be conducted in four provinces of Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Champassak province where are destinations of visitors. He believed that at least 50,000 arrivals would visit the Lao PDR during the 25th SEA Games, which estimated one person would spend about USD 200.The 25th SEA Games event in the Lao PDR will be taken from 3 to 12 December 2009.
Lao people living across the country will have a chance to see Live broadcast of the 25th SEA GAMES thanks to the cooperation between the Lao national televition and the Lao star channel.
The Southeast Asian Games owes its origins to the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games. On May 22, 1958, delegates from the countries in Southeast Asian peninsula attending the 3rd Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan had a meeting and agreed to establish a sport organization. The SEAP Games was conceptualized by Laung Sukhumnaipradit, then Vice-President of the Thailand Olympic Committee. The proposed rationale was that a regional sports event will help promote cooperation, understanding and relations among countries in the Southeast Asian region.
Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya (now Malaysia), Laos, South Vietnam and Cambodia (with Singapore included thereafter) were the founding members. These countries agreed to hold the Games biannually. The SEAP Games Federation Committee was formed.
The first SEAP Games were held in Bangkok from 12-17 December, 1959 comprising more than 527 athletes and officials from Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, South Vietnam and Laos participating in 12 sports.
At the 8th SEAP Games in 1975, the SEAP Federation considered the inclusion of Indonesia and the Philippines.The two countries were formally admitted in 1977, the same year when SEAP Federation changed their name to Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF), and the games were known as the Southeast Asian Games. Brunei was admitted at the 10th SEA Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, and East Timor at the 22nd SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The 24th SEA Games held in the Thailand, which started from 6 December and ended on 15 December 2007, hosting the biennial event for the sixth times and it is also the most protested SEA Games ever.The next host for the SEA Games is in Laos.It was that the Laos to host the binneial games for the first time
Photo: Model of new national stadium of Laos for 2009 Sea Games
The Sub-Committee for Tobacco Control and the Tobacco Control Taskforce expect to have smoke-free zones declared for the 25 th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2009.
The Chairman of the Tobacco Control Taskforce, Prof Sithat Insisiengmay, told Vientiane Times on Monday that his taskforce and the sub-committee of the Lao National Sports Committee first met last month and are now in the process of drafting a decree before sending it to the Prime Minister for signing.
“This decree will help us achieve our goal of a tobacco free games, with events held in Luang Prabang, Savannkhet provinces and Vientiane,” he said.
He said the taskforce had also successfully implemented smoke-free zones in the Ministry of Public Health, and most hospitals in Vientiane as well as provincial hospitals of Luang Prabang and Savannakhet.
Hospitals in Champassak province have already sent a proposal to the taskforce, which should be implemented early this year, he added.
“Ourselves, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Adventist Development and Relief Agency and the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance are together pushing for the implementation of a smoke-free 25 th SEA Games,” said an assistant of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative Programme, Dr Bounlonh Kesouvannasane.
He added that funding would be needed for a media campaign, informing the various committees who work for the games and publishing material.
The new Tobacco Control Law also passed the first step in Sub-Committee level at the Ministries of Public Health, Industry and Commerce, and Justice and the Prime Minister's Office, he said.
He added the draft will be sent to a committee of nine ministries for consideration before sending it to the 5 th session of sixth legislature of the National Assembly in 2008 for approval.
Smoke-free areas are in line with the World Health Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ratified by Laos in 2006.
Sepak Takraw (Malay: "kick" and Thai: "takraw") [1] or Kick Volleyball is a sport native to Southeast Asia, resembling volleyball, except that it uses a rattan ball and only allows players to use their feet and head to touch the ball. A cross between soccer and volleyball, it is a popular sport in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Philippines and Indonesia.
In Thailand, the game is simply called Takraw. It is also thuck thay (Lao: "twine" and "kick").
Similar games include footbag net, footvolley, jianzi and sipa.
History
Sepak takraw was almost definitely based on the Chinese game of cuju (a name which also means "kick ball"). The sport would have been brought in through early trade and had already become popular in Malaysia and Thailand by the early 1400s. Back then it was called Takraw in Thai or Sepak Raga (literally "kick rattan ball", because the ball is made of rattan) in Malay and played mainly by men and boys standing in a circle, kicking the ball back and forth between them.
In Bangkok, murals at Wat Phra Kaew depict the Hindu god Hanuman playing takraw in a ring with a troop of monkeys. Other historical accounts mention the game earlier during the reign of King Naresuan of Ayutthaya. The game remained in its circle form for hundreds of years, and the modern version of sepak takraw began taking shape in Thailand sometime during early 1800s. In 1829, the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for takraw competition. Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest. Within just a few years, takraw was introduced to the curriculum in Siamese schools. The game became such a cherished local custom that another exhibition of volleyball-style takraw was staged to celebrate the kingdom’s first constitution in 1933, the year after Thailand abolished absolute monarchy. Later in 1935, the game was first played differently in in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia during the Silver Jubilee celebration of SMK King George V. [2] By the 1940s, the net version of the game had spread throughout Southeast Asia, and formal rules were introduced. In the Philippines the sport was called "Sipa", in Myanmar, or Burma, it was dubbed "Chinlone", in Laos "Kator", "cầu mây" in Vietnam and in Indonesia "Raga." [1]
International play is now governed by ISTAF, the International Sepak Takraw Federation. The King's Cup Sepaktakraw World Championship is held every year in Thailand.
This new national stadium has been constructed at Km 16 in Xaythany district on Road 13 South of Vientiane city and is expected to be ready 3 months before the SEA Games start. The swimming pools, golf and tennis courts of world standard will be built near the Lao International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre (ITECC).
The Lao national sport committee announced to organise some sports events in Vientiane, Luang prabang and Savannakhet provinces. The traditional boat racing, canoeing and other events will be held in Vientiane province. The first round of the men football competition will be held in Savannakhet because the new 15,000-seat stadium is completed. The new stadium in Luang prabang province will be used for women football competition.
Photo: New stadium used for the opening ceremony of the 7th National games in Savannakhet province, central Laos.
Photo: New stadium in Luang prabang province, nothern Laos.
Totally 25 sports will be competed at the 25th SEA GAMES in Vientiane, Laos including Lao traditional sports such as archery, top spinning and boat racing.
The Philippines will have to wait a foreseeable future to reclaim their Southeast Asian Games gold medal from Thailand.
Laos on Friday in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand announced its intention to slash the number of disciplines from 43 to only 25 for the 2009 edition of the regional event which includes baseball as one of those non-inclusions.
Other sports to be axed include basketball, gymnastics, cycling, softball, and triathlon.
Baseball has been a part of the games since the 2005 games in Manila that saw the host country taking the gold medal over Thailand. On the other hand, the Thais dethrone the Filipino batters to capture the crown this year.
The list includes archery, athletics, badminton, bowling, boxing, football, futsal, golf, handball, judo, karate-do, muay, petanque, pencak silat, sepak takraw, shooting, shuttle cock, snooker and billiards, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, traditional boat race, volleyball/beach volleyball, wrestling and wushu.
Officials from the next host cited the lack of facilities, little number of competitors, and weak participants as reasons for the cutback.
The games will be held in Vientiane for the 2009 games scheduled in December. It will be the lowest number of events to be held since the 1999 meet in Brunei which saw only 21 sports held in the oil-rich nation.
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