HANOI, 6 December 2003 — Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Van Khai officially opened the 22nd Southeast Asian Games at a spectacular opening ceremony in a packed national stadium yesterday evening.
The newly built My Dinh stadium in Hanoi was filled with around 40,000 enthusiastic flag wavers for the opening ceremony which saw sky divers, fan dancers, a Belgian dragon-themed laser show, a massive firework display and a cast of thousands of singers and dancers kicked off the official start of the competition.
Nearly 4,000 athletes from 10 Southeast Asian countries and newcomers East Timor will compete for medals in 32 events over the next nine days. As well as internationally recognized events such as soccer and athletics, the games have a regional flavor with competitions like sepak takraw, a cross between soccer and volleyball, and pencak silat, a martial art originally from Indonesia.
Although international interest in the SEA Games may be small, Vietnam is taking the hosting if its biggest ever sporting event very seriously.
The SEA Games anthem “For The World Of Tomorrow” is inescapable, blasting out from radios, televisions and neighborhood propaganda speakers everywhere.
