Laos is placed at 9th among 11 countries taking part in 28th SEA Games.

By Malayluck

(KPL) Lao athletes failed to win any gold medals in the hopeful sporting events at the 28^th SEA Games in Singapore.  Laos had hoped to win at least five gold medals.

Vice President of Lao National Olympics, Mr Somphou Phongsa claimed at a press conference last Friday that the failure was caused because the date of the SEA Games was unexpectedly moved forward giving the Lao athletes too little time to practice.  The SEA Games are usually held at the end of the year.

“Some of the sports had only been practiced for a few months before the competition which is one reason that we missed winning any gold medals,” he explained.

“A few of the sports that Laos had hoped to win gold at were cancelled by the host country at the 28^th SEA Games.  Additionally, in some other sports categories, the Lao athletes did not match the weight categories of other competing athletes including Judo, Taekwondo, Karate-do and Wushu.  We didn’t have any information about the competitors,” said Mr Somphou

He went on to say that the Lao athletes won 33 gold medals at the 25^th Sea Games in 2009, nine gold medal at the 26^th Sea Games, and 13 gold medals in the 27^th SEA Games.

Although we didn’t win any gold medals at the 28^th SEA Games in Singapore, we will draw on our experience in Singapore to improve our athletes for future competitions.

KPL