Hanoi Gets 2021 Southeast Asian Games

(ATR) The Vietnam government has chosen the capital Hanoi to stage the 31st edition of the multi-sports event.

After meetings on Tuesday, officials announced that Hanoi had defeated a challenge from Ho Chi Minh City to win hosting rights for the Southeast Asian Games and ASEAN Para Games in 2021.

Hanoi, which last staged the Games in 2003, had submitted proposals which made better use of existing infrastructure and cost less than its rival, according to Vietnamese media reports.

The Southeast Asian Games Federation had previously allocated the Games to Vietnam after the original host, Cambodia, said it was not ready to stage the event. Vietnam was due to hold the 2023 version.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc was quoted in the Vietnam News saying the SEA Games was a chance to mobilize the participation of different economic sectors and promote the country globally.

The 11 nations of the Southeast Asian Games Federation will take part in the 2021 SEA Games. The 17-day event is expected to have a program of around 30 sports. Some 11,000 athletes and coaches will participate in the Games.

Vietnam hosted the fifth Asian Beach Games in 2016. Around 3,000 athletes competed in 14 sports, 22 disciplines and 172 events at four venue clusters along a seven-kilometer stretch of the bay in the central coastal city of Da Nang.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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