Vietnam seeks to be fair, to include many Olympic events in SEA Games

By Hoang Nguyen February 28, 2020 | 05:00 pm PT

Vietnamese Pham Thi Thu Trang is well ahead of her rivals as she wins the women's 10,000 m walking race at the 30 SEA Games in the Philippines, December 8, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Quang Huy.

The 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi next year will feature the largest number of Olympic sports in the event’s history.

Tran Duc Phan, deputy director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, revealed this at a meeting held in Hanoi this week to review plans for SEA Games 31.

Vietnam wants to be a pioneer in organizing a SEA Games with the same disciplines as the Asian Games and Olympics to give all participating countries a chance of winning medals. Often host countries seek an unfair advantage by including a number of their own traditional sports.

The government has determined that Olympic and Asian Games sports will account for two thirds of the events at the SEA Games, and other countries could propose the inclusion of other sports as usual, Phan said.

This change will help evaluating the development trend of regional sport as well as the foundation of Vietnamese sport, he affirmed.

Earlier Vietnam has announced to add shuttlecock kicking, diving and vovinam to the tournament as its strong sports.

Next year Vietnam will be hosting the biennial games for a second time after first hosting it in 2003.

At last year’s games the country finished second in the medals tally with 288, including 98 golds.