Champassak athletes eye success at SEA Games

Athletes from Champassak province will have plenty of opportunities to represent Laos at the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane in December after winning medals at the eighth National Games last December.

Female athletes in action at the eighth National Games in Champassak province last year.

Many of the athletes have been selected by the Lao National Sports Committee (LNSC) to join national squads to train for the games.

Some of the athletes are currently living at the Sports Training Centre in Sikeuth village of Naxaithong district, Vientiane , and will be joined by more athletes next month.

The province has 28 athletes who were selected to join national teams in football, petanque, boxing, muay lao, cycling, taekwondo, volleyball, and track and field.

Deputy Director of the Champassak provincial Sports Department, Mr Phayvone Phabounmy, said the some of the athletes were relatively inexperienced but were very talented.

Mr Phayvone said the department has sent the athletes to train with national squads but lacks the funding to support them while they prepare for the games.

The Champassak provincial team finished atop the medal rankings at the national games, with 80 gold, 51 silver and 47 bronze medals.

Borikhamxay province came in second with 27 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze medals, while Vientiane took third place after winning 26 gold, 21 silver and 53 bronze medals.

The sports of athletics, swimming, volleyball, badminton, basketball, football, boxing, muay lao, petanque, tennis, table tennis, sepak takraw, shooting, taekwondo, cycling, pencak silat, boat racing, golf, snooker, top spinning, crossbow, bowling, karatedo and judo were contested at the national games.

A total of 25 sports will be contested at the SEA Games: athletics, swimming (diving and water polo), archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karatedo, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, muay (kick-boxing), pencak silat, petanque, fin swimming and shuttlecock.

Laos won five gold, seven silver and 32 bronze medals at the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007 and the LNSC hopes to improve on those figures when the nation hosts the games later this year.

 

 

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong
April 1, 2009

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