VietNamNet Bridge - As concerns of Vietnam and other countries in the region, in a meeting of the Southeast Asian Sports Federation held in Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar) yesterday, January 29, the host country of the 27th SEA Games officially decided to exclude gymnastics out from the competition program.


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Vietnamese gymnasts like Ha Thanh, Ngan Thuong and Phuoc Hung will lose the opportunity to protect their championship at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia.


This is really a shock to Vietnam because gymnastics is its forte, which brought about up to 11 gold medals at the 26th SEA Games. Moreover, gymnastics is one of the most basic sports of the Olympics, but it was still excluded from the SEA Games by Myanmar, despite the objections of the countries in the region, including Vietnam.

Before the meeting, the Vice Chair of the Vietnam Olympic Committee – Mr. Hoang Vinh Giang – hoped that it would not be that bad as the previous notice of Myanmar. Specifically, this country had informed related countries of the removal of five sports which are in the list of the Olympic Games, including table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, grass hockey and tennis out of the competition program at the 27th SEA Games.

These are all the sports that are not Myanmar’s advantages or do not exist in this country. However, Myanmar finally decided to exclude only gymnastics and keep the remaining sports. With this decision, Vietnam will be in the most unfavorable situation because gymnastics is Vietnam’s fortes.

Vietnamese gymnasts like Ha Thanh, Ngan Thuong and Phuoc Hung will lose the opportunity to protect their championship at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia.

Bang Lang