NAKHON RATCHASIMA – Laos officially announced yesterday that only 25 sports will be played in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games which it will be hosting for the first time.

Laos had earlier announced that one sport it was scrapping was basketball.

Also axed were chess, softball, dance sport, gymnastics, bodybuilding, cycling, equestrian, fencing, softball and all water sports.



The sports to be played are aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, bowling, boxing, football/futsal, golf, handball, judo, karate-do, muay, petanque, pencak silat, sepak takraw, shooting, shuttle cock, snooker and billiards, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, traditional boat race, volleyball/beach volleyball, wrestling and wushu...more info>>

25th SEA Games are tentatively set Dec. 13 to 21, 2009 in Vientiane, Dr. Phauthong Seng-Akhon, president of the Laos Olympic Committee, announced Friday.

Seng-Akhon announced that China will build a $ 46-million main stadium while Vietnam will construct a $ 6 million training facility for the athletes.

Laos will also build a hotel near the proposed main stadium to house some of the 2,500 athletes it expects.

This will mark the first time that Laos will host the biennial Games.

Vientiane will be the main hub with some events scattered in Luangprabang and Champasak.

Thailand has already appealed to Laos officials that if they can’t hold some of the events, it was willing to host them and play the sports near the Thai-Laotian border.

source: www.mb.com.ph

THE Tourism Ministry wants either Malaysia Airlines (MAS) or budget carrier, AirAsia, to operate Kuala Lumpur-Vientiane direct flights to woo more Laotian tourists to Malaysia.

In the absence of such flights to Kuala Lumpur, Laotian tourists had to transit either in Bangkok, Phnom Penh or Hanoi, which was time-consuming and costly, Deputy Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai said today.
“This inconvenience has led to many Laotians to skip Malaysia in their travel,” he said.
“Laos is the only Asean country without direct flight links from Kuala Lumpur. This has hampered Laotian tourist arrivals to Malaysia, more so this year being Visit Malaysia Year (VMY),” he told Malaysian journalists covering his two-day visit to Laos to promote VMY 2007.

Lim said the ministry would discuss with the Transport Ministry to order MAS or AirAsia to start KL-Vientiane and Vientiane-KL flights in the next six months.

Source: www.nst.com.my

The government of Laos finally adopted these white elephant mascots to be used for the Southeast Asian Games (SEA GAMES) in Laos 2009. It is the 25th aniversary of SEA GAMES and also the first time in Laos history to organize such big event. This is also the first time in SEA GAMES history to use 2 mascots in one event, that are: Thao "Champee" & Nang "Champa" (Mr.Champee and Ms. champa), which symbolize Lao national flower and the good luck for this game.



Photo: laosportfc