2009 SEA Games

The 25th Southeast Asian Games is currently being held in Vientiane, Laos, in December 2009.

This will be the first time Laos has ever held a Southeast Asian Games (Laos had previously declined hosting the 1965 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games citing financial difficulties). It will also commemorate the 50 years of the SEA Games .

Prior to the opening ceremony on the 9th of December,the men's football events began on the 2nd of December . The Women's football events began on the 4th of December , Water Polo events on the 5th together with both the Pencak Silat and the Table tennis events beggining on the 8th of December .

The first medal of the games was awarded to Singapore, when their Water Polo team won their 23rd consecutive water polo gold medal at the SEA Games during the round robin tournament round together with the Phillipines taking the silver medal and Indonesia taking the bronze.

Medal tally

As of Monday, 16 December 2009 16:00 (GMT+8) 2009

1	Thailand (THA)	58	65	77	200
2	Vietnam (VIE)	55	51	45	151
3	Singapore (SIN)	32	23	33	88
4	Malaysia (MAS)	29	33	47	109
5	Indonesia (INA)	29	30	53	112
6	Philippines (PHI)	26	24	38	88
7	Laos (LAO)	22	12	37	71
8	Myanmar (MYA)	8	15	32	55
9	Cambodia (CAM)	2	6	19	27
10	Brunei (BRU)	1	1	8	10
11	East Timor (TLS)	0	0	3	3
Total		251	253	382	886

  Host nation highlighted

Mascots

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The mascots for the 2009 SEA Games are two white elephants dressed in traditional Laotion attire. The male elephant is named Champa and the female elephant is named Champi. The two white elephants symbolise Laos as it was known as the kingdom of Lan Xang in ancient times, which literally means "The kingdom of a million elephants" when translated into English. The mascots are depicted as being cheerful, which is an important part in making sports competitions joyful and lively.

Theme Song

The Theme Song of 2009 SEA Games had been announced at June 21, 2009 and the song The Spirit of the Flame - Written and performed by Sam Intharaphithak - was selected as Theme Song of 2009 SEA Games. 25th SEA Games Theme Song Unveils Sam will present this song for the opening of 25th SEA Games at December 9, 2009.

The lyric of this song has a mix between Lao and English version. The first part is in Lao, and the second part is in English.

Venue

Vientiane

New National Sport Complex

• National Stadium (Ceremony, Athletics, Football)
• Aquatics Stadium (Aquatics, Fin Swimming)
• Archery Range (Archery)
• Gymnasium Tanggo Buntung (Badminton)
• Gymnasium Pahoman (Volleyball)
• SEA Games Golf Course (Golf)
• Shooting Range (Shooting)
• Tennis Court (Tennis)

Laos National University

• Olympia Gymnasium (Boxing)
• Convention Hall (Table Tennis)
• Booyong Gymnasium (Taekwondo, Wrestling)
• Petanque Court (Petanque)
• Athletics Village

Other Venue

• Donchan Palace Hotel (Biliards and Snooker)
• Chao Anu Vong Stadium (Football)
• Chao Anu Vong Gymnasium (Judo, Karate)
• LAO International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre-ITECC (Pencak Silat, Sepak Takraw, Wushu)
• Tad Sone (Cycling)
• Pornsawan School (Weightlifting)
• LAO-THAI Gymnasium (Muay)
• Beung Kha Nong Gymnasium (Shuttle Cock)

Criticisms

Controversy has marked the 2009 Laos SEA Games even before it has started. Laos has been criticized for reducing the number of game events, many believe due to lack of facilities. As a matter of fact, they will launch few Olympic sports and as a result, many say that these SEAG is just for Laos fame. Some also believe that Laos wants to select games they have a better chance of winning gold medals. The second issue spurred a big outcry in the elimination of basketball. Many countries, including the Philippines, the defending champion for the men's division–offered to help to host this event but Laos rejected offers of help from other nations. There has also been reports that Malaysia or Singapore will hold the 2009 SEA Games if Laos is not up to the task. As of June 2008, Lao has reportedly accepted funding from China, Japan and the ASEAN nations to put up necessary world-class sports facilities.

Sports

Because of the limited sports facilities in Vientiane, only 28 disciplines will be in competition, compared to 43 held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Among the Olympic sports will be missing from competition are baseball, canoeing, sailing, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, fencing, triathlon, equestrian, softball and basketball.

• Archery
• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Billiards and snooker¹
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Finswimming^h
• Football
• Golf¹
• Judo
• Karatedo¹
• Muay Lao (Muay Thai)²

• Pencak Silat²
• Pétanque²
• Sepak Takraw¹
• Shooting
• Shuttlecock kicking^h
• Table tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Volleyball
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling
• Wushu¹

¹ - not an official Olympic Sport
² - sport played only in the SEA Games
³ - not a traditional Olympic nor SEA Games Sport and introduced only by the host country.
° - a former official Olympic Sport, not applied in previous host countries and was introduced only by the host country.
^ʰ - sport not played in the previous edition and was reintroduced by the host country.

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Opening ceremony

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Event competitions

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Event finals

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Closing ceremony

December	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	Total Gold Medals
Ceremonies								●									●
Aquatics - Diving										2	2	2	2					8
Aquatics - Swimming									7	6	7	6	6					32
Aquatics - Water Polo						1												1
Archery														4	4			8
Athletics												10	9	6	8	12		45
Badminton												2				5		7
Billiard & Snooker									1	1	2		2	1	1	2		10
Boxing															6	10		16
Cycling (Road)												2	2					4
Cycling (Mountain Bike)									2	2								4
Finswimming														5	6	5		16
Football															1	1		2
Golf													4					4
Judo														4	7	7		18
Karatedo									4	7	6							17
Muay													6	7				13
Pencak silat												2			15			17
Pétanque										2	2		3				2	9
Sepak takraw								2			2			2			2	8
Shooting									6	6	4	4	4	4	2	2	2	34
Shuttlecock												2		3	2			7
Table tennis									2			1	2	2				7
Taekwondo								5	6	6	4							21
Tennis											2					2	3	7
Volleyball (Beach)																2		2
Volleyball (Indoor)															1	1		2
Weightlifting									3	3	3	4						13
Wrestling														8	5	6		19
Wushu												4		2	6	11		23
Total Gold Medals						1		7	31	35	34	39	40	48	64	66	9	374

Media Coverage

During the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane , to run from December 9-18, action will be broadcast live on 14 television channels in six countries. A meeting took place in Vientiane yesterday to discuss TV broadcasting fees and copyright.

Television networks that have agreed in principle to broadcast the SEA Games live are Brunei Radio and Television, Lao National Radio and Lao National Television, Lao Star Channel, Forever Group Co. Ltd (MRTV4-Myanmar), Media Corp TV Singapore Pte. Ltd, National Broadcasting Service of Thailand (NBT), TPBS, Channel 7, Channel 5, VTC Digital-Vietnam, VTV, TOT Co. Ltd., and CAT Telecom Co. Ltd.

The Phetchampa Advertising Company (PAC) is representing the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee (LAOSOC) and hosted the TV broadcasting rights meeting on duties and copyright for broadcasting in six Asean countries. Vice President of the Lao National Olympic Committee, Mr Chanpheng Silattana, representatives from LAOSOC and from Asean countries attended the meeting.

PAC Director, Mr Khammoui Keomany, said he was looking forward to cooperating with LAOSOC and the Lao people to successfully selling TV broadcasting rights for the games.

Laos will use about 16 mobile broadcasting vans to cover all sports venues and will employ more than 144 people to work in production. The budget for the management of TV broadcasting is about 34 billion kip (US$4 million).On the same day, LAOSOC officials reported progress on the sports complex and many other venues that are yet to be completed.

In addition to this, there is set to be coverage of specific events by individual magazines, such as PoolAsia for all the aquatic events.

Venues include the main sports complex, indoor stadiums at the National University of Laos, the Chao-Anou football stadium, the Lao-ITECC arena and the Bungkha-nhong indoor stadium.

The venues are being built with the installation of broadcasting facilities in mind as provision of broadcasting equipment at each venue is a requirement for hosting the games. The national football stadium at Dongsanghin village in Xaythany district will be inspected and tested in June by LAOSOC before hosting the games' opening and closing ceremonies in December.

The Philippines did not bid for television rights but sent a media delegation to cover the games.

IOC Code	Country	TV Station
BRU	Brunei Darussalam	RTB
CAM	Cambodia	TV5 Cambodia and Apsara TV
INA	Indonesia	TVRI
LAO	Laos	LNTV, Lao Star Channel (Host Broadcasters)
MYA	Myanmar	MRTV-4
SIN	Singapore	Channel 5
THA	Thailand	NBT
VIE	Vietnam	HTV, VTV & VCTV, VTC Digital

External links

• Official Website of the 25th Southeast Asian Games Vientiane 2009
• PoolAsia Water Magazine

Preceded by 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

Southeast Asian Games

Succeeded by 2011 Bandung and Semarang, Indonesia