Laos’ Mala Chanthalaksa and Phiksamay Insoumang on  their way to winning gold in the women’s doubles vovinam sword dance event in Vietnam on Friday.  --Photo Sports Daily News

Laos​ won​ two gold medals

Laos has won two gold medals in vovinam events at the SEA Games in Vietnam.
On of the medals was earned by Laos’ star competitor Phaylath Thammavongsa in the men’s singles weapons dance event, with 268 points.
The event on Saturday was contested by teams from six countries.
And in the women’s doubles sword dance event on Friday, Mala Chanthalaksa and Phiksamay Insoumang walked away with the gold medal.
The Lao vovinam team also picked up a silver and two bronze medals.
Further adding to Laos’ martial arts glory, judo contestant Soukphaxay Sitthisane won a silver medal in the men’s -60kg category.
More than 100 Lao athletes are competing in the SEA Games, with the prestigious regional sporting contest taking place from May 12 to 23.
Before heading to Vietnam, the Lao team had high hopes of winning a gold medal in martial arts events and other sports, but until now had been unsuccessful.
In the run up to the games, Lao athletes suffered from a lack of training and also lacked match practice at both the national and international levels, which greatly hampered their chances of success.
Many of the athletes have already returned to Vientiane after taking part in the games.
As well as being a regional sporting arena, the SEA Games serves to consolidate the special friendly relations between the young athletes of Laos and Vietnam.
The Lao Brewery Company donated 400 million kip in sponsorship money to finance Lao athletes’ participation in the games, while the Football Thai Factory Sporting Goods Co., Ltd. (FBT) donated more than 666 million kip. 
Other companies also provided funding to support Laos’ attendance at the games.
The government contributed 9 billion kip to support athletes during their training for the games.
In addition, 11 sports federations funded the training of athletes competing in the men’s and women’s football competitions and badminton, tennis, golf, rugby and e-sports.
Other athletes competed in kickboxing, vovinam, petanque, muay, wushu, billiards and snooker, judo, cycling, pencak silat, wrestling, sepak takraw, taekwondo, karate-do, track and field, boxing, archery, weightlifting, bodybuilding, swimming, gymnastics, baseball, beach volleyball, and table tennis.
The SEA Games comprised 40 sports in total.
Athletes will now embark on a rigorous training programme in preparation for the 32nd edition of the SEA Games, which will take place in Cambodia next year.
In the last edition of the games, held in the Philippines in 2019, Lao athletes competed in 24 sports, winning a gold medal in kickboxing, and five silver and 29 bronze medals in other sports.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update May 23, 2022)