Lao athletes muscle up for SEA Games

Lao sports teams are engaged in intensive training in preparation for the 31st South-East Asian (SEA) Games, which take place in Vietnam from May 12-23.

Lao vovinam fighters at their training camp in Vientiane this month. --Photo Lao Vovinam Federation

Laos will send 29 teams to compete in the prestigious regional event.
Some 32 trainers and more than 160 athletes will compete 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, swimming, football, badminton, tennis, golf, rugby, e-sport, gymnastics, baseball, bodybuilding, beach volleyball and table tennis events.
They will be training for the next 60 days until they travel to Vietnam.
Some teams are waiting to hear that they have been allocated government funding to support their training.
The vovinam team comprises 14 fighters in various categories, who are being trained by two coaches at their camp in Chanthaboury district.
The vovinam team will arrive in Vietnam on May 16 in time for the draw on May 17 to decide which countries will play in each group, with competitions to take place from May 18-22.
Lao athletes have set their sights on bringing back five gold medals from the games.
A meeting held in December reported that the government had allocated a budget of more than 9 billion kip to support 18 teams during training.
In addition, 11 sports federations will use their own funds to support their teams’ training in the run up to the games.
Training in all sports ground to a halt last year because of restrictions imposed during the Covid outbreak.
In 2019, Lao athletes competed in 24 sports at the 30th SEA Games held in the Philippines, winning a gold medal in kickboxing, and five silver and 29 bronze medals in other sports.
The government spent more than 10 billion kip to prepare athletes for participation in the games.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update March 3, 2022)