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 25th SEA Games is tentatively set at December 13-21 in Vientiane, Laos. The other areas of focus will be at Luangprabang and Savannakhet province.At present, $46-million is set for the main stadium, $6 million for the training facility and a new hotel to house an expected figure of 2,500 athletes from 11 southeast asian nations.

The Lao National Sports Committee on Tuesday met with officials from those national sporting federations that are not expected to pick up medals at the 25 th SEA Games, to be held in Vientiane in 2009.

The meeting, convened to discuss possible improvements to the country's sporting competency, was attended by the Vice President of the Lao National Sports Committee, Mr Somphou Phongsa, and officials from the golf, bowling, snooker, karatedo, swimming, football, athletics, badminton and tennis federations, amongst others.

“Every sporting federation must have a main sponsor that will support preparations for the games and organise the selection of our best athletes,” said Mr Somphou.

“Each federation must be equipped with an experienced adjudicator, trainer and team, and have secured sufficient funding to support the country's efforts at the games,” he said.

Athletes from a number of sporting disciplines are currently not performing at a level that will ensure success at the SEA Games. These teams were without medals at the 24 th SEA Games held in Thailand last year, and without improvements in training and skills, will find it difficult to compete at the international level again next year, warned Mr Somphou.

Teams competing in petanque, judo, Muay Thai, taekwondo, wushu, sepak takraw, wrestling, boxing, karatedo, pencak silat and rugby, however, are expected to go on to even greater heights, after winning five gold, seven silver, and 32 bronze medals at last year's games.

The Lao Petanque Federation announced yesterday that it would be running a series of nationwide tournaments to select the best players to join the national squad.

According to federation official Mr Sengthong Chommalath, the schedule for this year's competitions is already complete, and will be held in three stages around the country.

Players in the southern provinces of Savannakhet, Saravan, Xekong, Attapeu and host Champassak will compete from February 23-24.

Vientiane and the central provinces of Vientiane , Khammuan and host Borikhamxay will compete from March 26-27, while the third stage will be held in Luang Prabang province from April 29-30, and include players from Xieng Khuang, Huaphanh, Phongsaly, Bokeo, Oudomxay, Xayaboury and Luang Namtha provinces.

The winners in each category will qualify to compete in a final round in Vientiane from May 17-18, and the best players will be chosen to attend a national training camp in the following month.

Although some have suggested that this will be too early to begin holding a training camp, Mr Sengthong maintains that players need as much time as possible to improve their skills before the 2009 SEA Games in Vientiane .

The federation plans to invite at least 30 players, many of whom are already rising stars, to compete in the SEA Games, with the hope that they will win at least four gold medals on their home turf.

But more than half of the national squad players will be newcomers, which will be a challenge when facing strong rivals Thailand , Vietnam and Cambodia , where most players have world-class experience.

However federation president Mr Khammoui Keomany still believes that new members of the national squad will do as well, if not better, than Lao players at previous editions of the SEA Games.

Mr Khammoui also said the “dream team” for the 2009 games would begin their international tour after the end of the wet season, while the finalists for the national squad would be selected in the lead-up to the games.

The 2009 SEA Games will run from December 9-18; all main events will take place in the capital, while some will take place in provincial arenas in Vientiane , Luang Prabang and Savannakhet.

The Lao Bowling and Lao Snooker Federations have announced plans to start building new bowling and snooker training centres in Vientiane next month, in preparation for the 25 th SEA Games in 2009.

The federations will spend more than 9 billion kip (US$1 million) to build the two training centres, which are due for completion at the end of the year. Bowling and snooker equipment will be bought from China at a cost of a further 6 billion kip (US$700,000).

“We will organise bowling and snooker events once the centres are built, to select the best players to compete in the SEA Games,” said the President of the Lao Snooker Federation and Secretary to the President of the Lao Bowling Federation, Mr Pasithxay Luangkhot.

The bowling training centre will be of an international standard and consist of 24 lanes. The snooker training centre will have 20 international competition sized tables.

“The Vientiane Bowling Club and the Lao Snooker Federation Club are not up to standard and are too small to stage competitions at the SEA Games level,” said Mr Pasithxay.

In the meantime, the Bowling Federation has invited the best bowling teams from Luang Prabang, Vientiane , Savannakhet and Champassak provinces to participate in the Deputy Prime Minister's Cup, to be held at the Vientiane Bowling Club on February 23, in celebration of the 59 th anniversary of the establishment of the Lao People's Army.

The competition will consist of men's and women's singles tournaments in the open, under-15 and under-19 categories.

“We will select the best bowlers during this event to represent Vientiane at the 8 th National Games in Champassak province in December,” he said.

The Snooker Federation plans to organise a series of friendly men's singles snooker competitions at the federation's club in March.

“In May, we will select the best snooker players at the Vientiane Mayor's Cup to represent Vientiane at the 8 th National Games,” said Mr Pasithxay.

Lao bowling and snooker teams took part in the 24 th SEA Games in Thailand last year but were unsuccessful in their medal attempts.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
Vientianetimes