Vietnam may find it difficult to defend its position among the top three medal winners of the upcoming 27th Southeast Asian Games if Myanmar, the host country, only organises 28 competing sports.


Myanmar plans to host competitions in athletics, water sports, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards & snooker, boxing, canoeing, cycling, football, golf, hockey, judo, karatedo, rowing, yacht racing, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, indoor volleyball, weight-lifting, tennis, chess, body-building, petanque, and traditional rowing.   

This means Vietnamese athletes will not have the chance to compete in gymnastics, wrestling, pencat silat, diving, fencing, aerobics and vovinam, which are considered gold mines for Vietnam.

At the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia, Vietnam bagged 96 gold medals, ranking third on the medal tally. Experts say Vietnam will probably lose up to 40 gold medals in Myanmar if the host country only organises 28 sports in 2013 as planned.

However, Myanmar has not yet sent the official list of the sports to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The number of sports will be discussed at a meeting of the Southeast Asian Sports Council in Indonesia next month.

The regional largest sporting event takes place every two years.

VOV