SPORTS
Athletes, Organizers Ready for SEA Games After decades of isolation, Myanmar gears up to host the region’s most important sporting event By SAW YAN NAING / NAYPYITAW
I
n a new 30,000-seat football stadium here in Naypyitaw, Myanmar athletes warm up and begin exercising in the early morning hours, to prepare for the upcoming 27th Southeast Asian Games. The athletes have been busy training every day to get ready for the biennial regional sports competition scheduled in December. This year’s SEA Games will be the first to be hosted by Myanmar in four decades. At the Wanna Theikdi Stadium, Ma Kay Khine Lwin, a track and field athlete who will compete in the 100-, 200- and perhaps 400-meter races, cools down after her workout. “I want gold medals,” the 35-year-old says. “So I’m preparing to be the best. But
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TheIrrawaddy
the competition will be tough, as my competitors from Vietnam and Thailand are well-trained.” But being the host country will have advantages, she adds. “We have a better chance than our competitors to win,” she says. “It is our home and our people will cheer for us.” Ma Kay Khine Lwin has won several medals, including gold, in past SEA Games in Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. But she says she worries about the prospects for Myanmar competitors as they lack access to experienced and knowledgeable trainers, who can guide them to success in regional competitions. Myanmar previously hosted the
SEA Games in 1961 and 1969, both times in Yangon, which was then the country’s capital. The last event was organized seven years after a military coup ushered in a decades-long dictatorship under Gen Ne Win and his successors.
October 2013