The 25th Southeast Asian Games, the most important sports event of the year, will open on December 9 in Vietiane, Laos.

Swimmer Huu Viet - Vietnam’s hope at SEA Games 2009.

However, Vietnam is yet to finalise the list of sportsmen who will represent the country in Laos.

In previous years, the list of athletes for SEA Games has been fixed two months before the games. However, preparation for the event was postponed because Vietnam had to focus on the 3rd Asian Indoor Games recently.

Vuong Bich Thang, vice chief of the general department of Physical Training and Sports, said that the list will be available this weekend or early next week. Vietnam plans to send over 600 people to Laos, including over 400 athletes.

Thang also said that Tran Van Quynh, chief of the Elite Sports Department, will lead the delegation. Vietnam will participate in 19 out of 25 sports at SEA Games 2009 and aims to rank third with 60-70 gold medals.

The opening ceremony will be held on November 29 at the Hanoi Opera House and the delegation will go to Laos on December 17.

After the third Asian Indoor Games, which closed last week, Vietnamese key athletes came together to prepare for the SEA Games. On November 9, the Vietnamese swimming team returned to Kunming, China for training. On November 8, the athletics team also traveled to China to take part in the Asian Track and Field Championship.

The 25^th SEA Games will run from December 9-18 in Laos, with 25 sports and 383 sets of medals, including: swimming, track and field, diving, water ball, archery, badminton billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karate, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, kickboxing, pentanque, pencak silat and shuttle cock.

The games will be held in Vientiane, Champasak and Luang Prabang. The opening ceremony will take place at the Laos National Stadium in Vientiane on the evening of December 9 evening.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre