Olympic Committee inspects preparations for National Games

Deputy President of the National Olympic Committee of Laos, Mr Somphou Phongsa, and his officials on Monday inspected sports stadiums and assessed general preparations for the 11th National Games, to be hosted by Xieng Khuang province in December.
Members of the Olympic Committee and Xieng Khuang officials discussed the stadiums’ readiness for the games, while it was agreed that some facilities would be repaired ahead of the event.
In the meantime, the government is spending over 9 billion kip to prepare athletes for the 31st South-East Asia (SEA) Games taking place in Vietnam next month, which is eating into the amount of funding available for the National Games.
The Olympic Committee will submit a report to the government following its inspection and will carry out another inspection before the start of the National Games later this year.
Last month Xieng Khuang’s Education and Sports Department held a meeting to prepare the committee ahead of the games, attended by officials from the Ministry of Education and Sports and participating provinces.
The provincial department will carry out regular checks to make sure that organisers have everything under control and that the games will finally go ahead without a hitch after being postponed three times in previous years.
The main stadium is being prepared for the opening and closing ceremonies, and a budget is being drawn up for the competition organising committee, repair of sports facilities, provision of accommodation, and other requirements.
Other provinces and some ministries will then prepare athletes to attend the games.
At present it is planned that athletes will compete in 28 sports.
Competitions will be staggered, with two or three different events taking place each day to reduce crowding and prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The opening ceremony will be attended by sports teams from provinces and ministries.
Provincial officials will prepare a show involving 200 performers for the opening ceremony and will limit the number of people attending. 
The main football stadium, which will be used for most events, was built in 2019 and is in good condition.
The last National Games was hosted by Oudomxay province in 2014, while the 12th edition of the games is currently scheduled to take place in Vientiane next year.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update April 26, 2022)