Officials from the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee and Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sport met on Wednesday in Vientiane to discuss preparations for the 2009 SEA Games. –Photo Sisay
The Lao SEA Games Organising Committee (LAOSOC) met with delegates from the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports in Vientiane on Wednesday to discuss progress on preparations for the 25th SEA Games.
The meeting was chaired by Lao National Sports Committee Vice President, Mr Somphou Phongsa, and the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports' Permanent Secretary Dr Sasithara Pichaichannarong.
The two sides discussed preparations for the games including the compilation of competition technical teams, construction of training and competition facilities, traffic and transport arrangements, volunteer organisers, television broadcasting and accommodation for athletes and officials.
Thai officials reported on the progress of an indoor stadium upgrade which the Thai government is providing 43 billion kip (179 million baht) funding for. The stadium in Beungkhayong village, Sisattanak district of Vientiane will host the shuttlecock and muay events during the games.
The facility is on track for completion in October next year, the meeting was told.
Mr Somphou, on behalf of LAOSOC, thanked the Thai government for its support in upgrading the Beungkhayong indoor stadium and other preparations for the event, which will be held in December 2009.
“In preparing for the games we have also received generous support from other neighbouring countries including Vietnam and China ,” he said.
Last month a meeting of the SEA Games Federation decreed the event would consist of 390 events across the 25 sports of athletics, aquatic sports (swimming, diving and water polo), archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karatedo, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and soft tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, muay, fin swimming, petanque, shuttlecock and pencak silat.
Competition venues are the national sports complex at Km 16 in Dongsanghin village, Xaythany district; Don Chan Palace; Booyoung and Olympasia indoor stadiums at the National University of Laos; Lao International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre; Chao-anouvong stadium in Anou village, Chanthabouly district; the Army stadium at Km 5 and the Vientiane Sports Department in Beungkhayong village, Sisattanak district.
JOHOR BARU : Archery, cycling and weightlifting have made it to the list of sports for next year’s 25th edition of the SEA Games, scheduled to be held in Laos from Dec 13-21.
Laos, who are hosting the biennial meet for the first time, did not include the three sports when they came out with the initial list of 22 sports earlier this year.
But in the South-East Asia Games Federation (SEAGF) meeting, which concluded yesterday, Laos have agreed to include the three Olympic sports.
The other sports in the final programme are aquatics (swimming and diving), athletics, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, football, golf, judo, karate, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, muay thai, petanque, silat, fin swimming, shuttlecock kicking, volleyball (including beach volleyball), wrestling and wushu.
Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) vice-president Datuk W.Y. Chin, who attended the meeting in Laos, confirmed that the three sports would be contested in next year’s SEA Games.
However, there will be only road cycling competition as Laos do not have the funds to build a velodrome for the track disciplines.
“They have agreed on 25 sports and a total of 398 events altogether,” he said from Laos yesterday.
“However, the Philippines have appealed for basketball to be included and even offered to finance the expenses. However, Laos mentioned that they do not have a basketball arena with wooden flooring.”
Chin added that a decision should be made before the year is over.
Laos have also decided to host all the 25 sports in their capital Vientiane.
The inclusion of the three Olympic sports is certainly good news for Malaysia, who have strong medal chances especially in archery.
In the Korat SEA Games last year, Malaysia had a medal haul of 68-52-95 to finish second overall behind hosts Thailand.
from:http://www.sportsmalaysia.net/2008/11/15/laos-sea-games-2009-three-new-sports/
(KPL) Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad, Standing Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Organising Committee for 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 2009) presented on 12 November an invitation card to the representative of 10 ASEAN member country for 25th SEA Games.
The Lao National Sports Committee (LNSC) has accomplished the goals set for the previous three months of preparation for the 25 th SEA Games to be held in Vientiane next year.
At the Prime Minister's Office on Friday, the national sports committee held a meeting to summarise its work and plan its tasks for September to December.
Standing Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the 25 th SEA Games Organising Committee Somsavat Lengsavad and senior officials attended the meeting.
Mr Somsavat said Laos had been given a great honour in hosting the SEA Games. The event would serve to strengthen the country and boost solidarity.
He suggested the committee should set out clear plans for assistance and cooperation with other countries.
From September to December, the sports committee will cooperate with Singapore to prepare for the event.
The Vietnamese government will assist with the installation of IT systems and electronic equipment in the new football stadium and the indoor stadiums to be used in the games.
The national sports committee will hold a Miss SEA Games beauty pageant and will build a digital clock in Vientiane to mark the countdown to the games. The time will run from December 31 this year until the opening ceremony of the games in December 2009. The clock is to be sponsored by the Lao Brewery Company.
The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry will spend about 21.3 billion kip (84 million baht) to renovate the national football stadium, tennis courts and the sports department's indoor stadium.
The ministry will also pay about 1.5 billion kip (6 million baht) towards the training of LNSC officials, as well as referees and athletes.
The committee will also receive assistance through cooperation with doping control staff from Vietnam and Thailand .
At the end of this year, the committee will open the sports training centre and athletes' accommodation in Vientiane , to be built with assistance from the Vietnamese government.
The Lao football, judo, karatedo, wushu, wrestling, pencak silat, swimming and diving teams are currently training in Vietnam .
Also in the past three months, committee officials improved their skills at the Lao-Singapore Cooperation Centre in June and planted 500 trees around the new football stadium.
In May, the committee held discussions on work plans for the games including accommodation, food, decoration of the city, tourism, traffic, telecommunications and other work.
The committee asked the Olympic Committee of Asia and the competition organising committee of the SEA Games to assist in running the games.
Athletes' accommodation is under construction at the National University of Laos, assisted by the Vietnamese government.
Last July, the committee visited Incheon district in the Republic of Korea , where district officials provided them with sports equipment worth more than 3.5 billion kip (US$405,000).
When Lao government officials attended the Olympic Games in China last month, they signed an agreement for SEA Games cooperation with the Chinese government in Beijing . The Lao wushu and shuttlecock teams will attend training in China ahead of the games.
Singapore helped with tourism promotion for the games last month. This month it will work on business communication for the games and next month plans to assist with hospitality management.
The new football stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies of the games will take place is 65-80 percent complete, the indoor stadium is 90 percent complete, the petanque field is 80 percent complete and the taekwondo court is 95 percent complete.
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.
(KPL) Hongthong Park, Ban Koualouang, Chanthaboury district, Vientiane Capital, is being developed with adding a 24-hour market with a 200-car parking lot.
The development of 17,000 ha park is also to welcome the upcoming 25th Southeast Asian Games to be held in Vientiane in 2009.
The 25 billion kip development is the co-operation between Vientiane Administration, the Vientiane Urban Development Administration Authority (VUDAA) and Khampaisana Company.
The improvement of the park will be carried out by Khamphaixana Company, which will operate the park for 40 year after completing the construction.
Concerned parties signed a memorandum of understanding on the development last Thursday in Vientiane among the witness of Deputy Mayor of Vientiane Mr Bounchan Sinlavong and concerned officials.
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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