Myanmar to send 245 athletes to SEA Games

Myanmar to send 245 athletes to SEA Games

YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Myanmar will be hoping to bag gold medals in traditional boat racing next month in the 20th Southeast Asia Games in Brunei, a top sports official said Saturday.

But other sports that Myanmar won gold in at the last SEA Games - women's weightlifting, wushu, body building and women's sepak takraw - have been dropped from the current edition.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, will send a 245-strong contingent, including 144 athletes to compete in 12 sports, said Maung Win, the Sports Ministry's director of sports and physical education.

"Myanmar lays high hopes on the traditional boat racing events," he said. "Myanmar's team bagged two golds and several silvers in both women's and men's events in the 19th SEA Games in Jakarta."

The 97 men and 47 women will compete in track and field, billiards and snooker, bowling, boxing, soccer, golf, karate, traditional boat races, sepak takraw, swimming, taekwondo and pencak silat.

Speaking at a meeting with athletes and their team managers Thursday, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, a top leader in the military government and head of the national Olympic Committee, urged the athletes to win.

Khin Nyunt said that even though some sports Myanmar excels in have been dropped, the country's best athletes have been selected for the Brunei lineup.

Khin Nyunt said that the government and local and foreign businesses had contributed cash and kind to the Myanmar team.