SE Asian sports officials select sports for SEAG

SE Asian sports officials select sports for SEAG

Associated Press, Hanoi

Sports officials from the 10 Southeast Asian countries have
agreed unanimously on 21 events to be included in the Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games to be held in Vietnam in 2003, state-controlled
media reported Saturday.

The 21 sports decided at a two-day meeting in Hanoi are
athletics, aquatics, handball, football, volleyball, basketball,
sepak takraw, karate, judo, cycling, badminton, taekwondo, wushu,
wrestling, pencak silat, tennis, canoeing, shooting, table
tennis, bodybuilding and gymnastics, the Lao Dong (Labor) trade
union newspaper said.

Ten other events will be considered for conclusion in the
official program later this year, the newspaper said.

Those 10 events are diving, chess and shuttlecock kicking -
proposed by Vietnam - and archery, weightlifting, fencing,
rowing, billiards-snooker, petanque and boxing, it said.

The SEA Games, the biggest sporting event in the region, is
held every two years.

The previous SEA Games was in Malaysia. Vietnam will host the
next SEA Games in November 2003, while the 2005 SEA Games will be
hosted by the Philippines.