Pnomsin on My Opera

(KPL) The new national sports complex stadium is now completed and ready to serve the 25th SEA Games 2009, hosted by Laos from 9 to 18 December.
An official handover ceremony for the new complex stadium was held on Tuesday at the Dong Sanghine village (km 16), Saythany district, Vientiane Capital, between representatives of the Lao and Chinese governments.
The event was attended by Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who is also Chairman of the SEA Games Organising Committee, Yunnan Deputy Governor Gu Chaoxi of China, Chinese Ambassador to Laos Pan Guangxue and other officials of Laos and China.
Mr Somsavat said this year was the 50th anniversary of the SEA Games Federation. Although Laos had been involved in initiating the SEA Games, the country had never before hosted the event.
He said the Lao government had involved various sectors in ensuring the success of the preparations for the games, particularly in improving infrastructure, and the new sports complex was a wonderful way for the Lao people to welcome the games.
Mr Guangxue said the stadium was yet another symbol of the ties between the two nations.
The government and people of China strongly support Laos in its efforts to organise the games, he said.
Minister to the Prime Minister's Office and President of the Lao National Sports Committee, Dr Phouthong Seng-akhom, said this was a historic time for the Lao sport circle. The support received from the Chinese government demonstrates the long-standing solidarity and relations between Laos and China. This is the first top-quality sports complex of international standard in Laos.
Dr Phouthong also said the hand-over of the stadium would mark the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, which takes place on October 1 this year.
He has promised that we would use this stadium for the highest benefit in serving the opening and closing ceremonies of the 25th SEA Games. We also plan to use this place to be the centre for developing the Lao sports in the future and will be the place where people can rest, exercises and visit.
The complex is built on a 125-hectare site in Dong Sanghine village (km 16), in Saythany district, Vientiane Capital.
The construction began on October 2007, undertaken by the China Yunnan Construction Engineering Group Corporation at a cost of more than US$100 million.
The complex comprises two indoor stadiums, each with a 3000-seat capacity, an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, a shooting range, and a warm-up area. The main stadium will have a seating capacity of 20,000 and will be used for the SEA Games football and track-and-field events, and also for the opening and closing ceremonies.
The complex was built through a joint cooperation project between the government of the Lao PDR and the China Development Bank.

(KPL) People who would like to touch the real atmosphere of opening ceremony of the 25th SEA Games have to fork out at least 200,000 kip (US$25) per ticket while highest cost may be 500,000 kip per ticket (about US$50).
The price was discussed at a meeting held on 3 July, Vientiane, under the Mr Chanpheng Silattana, Deputy President of the Lao Olympic Committee.
Four types of tickets are available for sale respectively 500,000 kip, 400,000 kip, 300,000 kip and 200,000 kip. Now the tickets are on sale at the National Acrobatic Committee Office, Vientiane.
Many sport events include bicycle, golf, petanque, snooker, track-and-field, weigh lifting and archery will be free of charge.

(KPL) Ninety per cent of the construction work of the new sports stadium for the 25th SEA Games has been completed.
The next stage is to carry out the decoration work for this infrastructure.
This was reported during a meeting on the progress of the preparatory work on the Sea Games on 20 March, under the chairmanship of Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad.
The sub-committees for organizing the Sea Games reported at the meeting that the inauguration and closing ceremonies of this sporting would be different
from the past Sea Games.
The Standing Deputy Prime Minister stressed on the policy of usage of local products at this coming sporting event and on the need to get the Lao national athletes to practice at the training centre after the Lao New Year.
He also said the financial sub-committee has approved 90 billion kip to fund other preparatory works.
For the senior sports officials, they would be accommodated in eleven standard hotels and 200 rooms had been set aside specially for them, said Mr Somsavat.
To ensure spectacular shows during the opening and closing ceremonies of this sports event, there will be 8,000 performers, and they would be rehearsing their sequences soon, said the Standing Deputy Prime Minister.
Last but not least, he asked all sub-committees to be conscientious, to complete their work on schedule and to take care of the welfare of the athletes.

(KPL) The Tourism Service of Saythany district plans to launch an inspection campaign of hotels, guesthouses and restaurants in August, to prepare for welcoming athlete delegations participating in the upcoming of 25th SEA Games at the end of this year.
The plan was informed at a meeting took place on 18 March, Vientiane to local businessmen that was under the chairmanship of Head of Tourism Service of Vientiane Mr. Khamphadith Khemphanith.
The participants were informed on the inspection and security campaigns, and food management law during the SEA Games and they were urged to cooperate in the campaign.
The campaign will take into practice in the district due to the new SEA Games stadium is located in Saythany district will be used inaugural ceremony of 25th SEA Games.

(KPL) National Wrestling Federation is currently selecting their best athletes for training in Vientiane and overseas to ensure they could win any medals at the 25th SEA Games in December.
The federation said it would send wrestlers to train in Vietnam and Mongolia with the assistance from the said countries.
Five male wrestlers in the categories of 50, 55, 58, 60 and 63kg and one-woman wrestler will train in Mongolia from March until September.
Twelve men in the 50 to 80kg categories and three women wrestlers in the 48, 55 and 60kg categories will train in Vietnam from March till October. Six men and four women will be chosen to compete in wrestling events at the SEA Games.
The federation’s deputy secretary, Mr. Manolom Phinith, said the team would be selected when the wrestlers returned from training.
At present, the Lao team at the national camp in Vientiane is training with a Mongolian wrestler who worked with the national wrestlers ahead of the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007 and Lao wrestlers won two bronze medals in this game