Decision time
In June 2024, the Organizing Committee of the 33rd SEA Games preliminarily announced more than 40 sports and sub-sports to be organized at this Congress. However, that is a preliminary list. The countries are then entitled to consider and the Olympic Committee of each country proposes additional sports and content to be organized at the 33rd SEA Games. The Thai host organizing committee will consider each proposal, then agree to make the final decision. The meeting this week aims to announce the specific numbers when the Thai host organizing committee of the 33rd SEA Games has calculated them specifically.
Last year, the 32nd SEA Games took place in Cambodia and the host country hosted 584 medal sets in 36 official sports.
The 33rd SEA Games in 2025 is considered by the Southeast Asian Sports Federation as the first Congress to begin implementing the agreement to include more top sports of the Olympics and ASIADs in the competition and reduce the number of national sports of each country.
Vietnam has its own goals
Vietnamese sports representatives will attend the meeting in Bangkok (Thailand). In June, after receiving preliminary information on the sports that Thailand will host at the 33rd SEA Games, the Vietnam Olympic Committee added suggestions for the inclusion of vovinam, karate, jujitsu, wushu, and sambo in the competition program of the Games.
The Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Physical Training and Sports to 2030, with a Vision to 2045, was issued by the Prime Minister on October 15, 2024. One of the specific goals of this Strategy is clearly stated as follows: "High-performance sports remain in the top 3 at the SEA Games and in the top 20 at the ASIAD; striving to achieve 5 to 7 Gold Medals at the ASIAD, medals at the Olympics and Paralympics, men's football in the top 10 in Asia and women's football in the top 8 in Asia".
Regarding the target orientation to 2024, the Strategy outlines that: "High-performance sports regularly maintain in the top 2 at the SEA Games, in the top 15 at the ASIAD and in the top 50 at the Olympics; men's football in the top 8 in Asia and qualify for the World Cup; women's football in the top 6 in Asia and qualify for the World Cup".
Such goals show that Vietnamese sports have an important role to play in the SEA Games. In general, the SEA Games is where we show the image of our people and country to our regional friends, and in terms of expertise, the SEA Games is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our level and ability to compete in sports that bring glory to the Fatherland. Regardless, the SEA Games is an arena with its own significance, helping to build the spirit of Vietnamese coaches and athletes. This is clearly demonstrated in many tournaments that Vietnamese sports have participated in.
At the conference on orientation for high-performance sports development to 2030 organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and implemented by the Department of Physical Training and Sports, the issue of focusing resources on the SEA Games arena was mentioned a lot.
Vietnam's high-performance sports still aim to maintain its achievements in the top 3 countries in the next SEA Games. In fact, the Vietnamese sports coaches and athletes must go through the SEA Games arena to accumulate more knowledge to continue towards the ASIAD arena and further, the Olympics. For example, the 16 players of the 2024 Paris (France) Olympic Games of Vietnam are also 16 people who have competed in a number of previous SEA Games and accumulated useful expertise for themselves.
