LookAtVietnam – Viet Nam will send an 800-member team to the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos this December, announced the Sports Administration.

The Viet Nam sports delegation will aim to earn around 55-60 gold medals at the Laos Games, and rank in the top three.

At the 24A SEA Games in Thailand, the largest in its history with 43 events and 488 sets of medals, Viet Nam sent 1,000 athletes and finished in the top three.

Viet Nam has also defined some main tasks in 2009, including helping Laos organise the 25th SEA Games successfully, earning 11 golds to rank sixth at the third Asian Indoor Games, hosted by Viet Nam, taking part in the Asian Martial Arts Festival with 80 athletes and gaining gold medals in pencak silat, karatedo, taekwondo and wushu and partaking in the Asian Youth Sports Festival in Singapore with 90 players, all while preparing for the 2010 Asian Games and the 2012 Olympics.

This year, Viet Nam will have 90 teams in 36 events, with more than 1,000 athletes and coaches training and competing at home and abroad. They will play at more than 150 international events.

Viet Nam will also be the host of over 200 tourneys, of which 30 will be international.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said that sports branches should supervise and know how often people train and conduct physical exercises, as currently only retirees are practising, while workers and staff hardly train.

According to Nhan, the sports industry should teach traditional martial arts at schools, like other subjects.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News