Lao athletes hope for medals, look for luck at SEA Games

Photo from Vientiane Times/ANN

VIENTIANE – The Lao athletic team are hoping to bring home medals from the track and field events at the 29th SEA Games hosted by Malaysia from August 19 to 31.

The Lao athletic team is comprised of eight men and four women, all ready to compete in 18 track and field events at the 29th games.

The Lao athletic team will travel to Malaysia on Thursday and they will prepare to compete in the track and field events from August 20 to 31.

There are 47 track and field events at the 29th games.

Lao Amateur Athletics Federation Secretary General Sithixay Sackpraseuth said this year the Lao athletes were more skilled and developed and they were fit enough for 18 track and field events.

At the 28th SEA Games in Singapore in 2015, the Lao athletic team competed in 16 track and field events.

Sithixay said strong athletic teams from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia were ready to compete in more than 40 track and field events at the 29th games.

The best hopes are female runners, Manivanh Chanthavong and Lodkeo Inthakoumman, both are certainties for the team given their past international experience.

Lodkeo is currently a professional runner of Laos and she succeeded in the women’s 21km running event at Vientiane International Half Marathon in March. At the 17th Asean University Games in Indonesia in 2014, Lodkeo won a gold medal in the women’s 10,000 metres event, a silver medal in the women’s 5000 metres event and a bronze medal in the women’s 1500 metres event.

Manivanh will no doubt compete in the women’s 100 metres hurdles along with shot-put, discus, javelin, long jump, 200 metres and high jump events at the 29th SEA Games, while Lodkeo’s favoured events are the women’s 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 metre events.

At the 18th Asean University Games in Singapore last July the National University of Laos athletics team won two gold medals in the men’s 110 metre hurdles and women’s 800 metres.

At the 27th SEA Games in Myanmar in 2013 the Lao team won two bronze medals while at the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane back in 2009, the team won only a solitary bronze medal on home soil.

Next year, the Lao Amateur Athletics Federation will support the staging of track and field events at the 11th National Games to be hosted by Xieng Khuang province.