VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam will send 560 athletes as part of an 800-member delegation to the 26th Southeast Asian Games to be held in Indonesia from November 11 to 22.

They will vie for honors in 43 out of 56 sports in Palembang and Jakarta, and are thought to be strong medal contenders in martial arts, athletics, wrestling, shooting, chess, weightlifting, and billiards and snooker.

The games will see the Vietnamese martial art vovinam become a medal event for the first time.

Vovinam, created in 1938 in Hanoi by Master Nguyen Loc, uses various fighting techniques both with and without weapons and uses the opponent’s momentum to counterattack.

The national sports administration predicts a haul of 70 - 90 gold medals and a top two finish for Vietnam.

At the 2009 SEA Games, Vietnam won 83 gold medals and finished second behind Thailand with 86 golds. Indonesia were far behind in third place with only 43 gold medals.

The other teams will be Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and host Indonesia.

This will be the fourth time Indonesia plays host after having earlier organized the games in 1979, 1987, and 1997.

Source: Tuoitrenews