Vietnam is ready for SEA Games 31

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Deputy Head of the Standing Subcommittee of the Information and Communications Subcommittee of the 31st SEA Games, Le Thi Hoang Yen, said: To prepare for the 31st SEA Games, the Organizing Committee has established 9 subcommittees and 1 operations center, in which each subcommittee has specific assigned tasks from technical expertise, security, traffic, reception-ceremony, logistics, medical, etc. Up to this point, the work of repairing, upgrading, and building new competition venues and facilities for the congress is in the final stage. For completed venues, the Organizing Committee will clean, decorate billboards, posters, banners, slogans, and visual cheering signs before, inside, and around the competition venues.

Promotion and information work about SEA Games 31 on main streets of Hanoi. Photo: Thuy Nguyen

April 15 was the deadline for sports delegations to register their athletes to participate in the Games and we will welcome about 7,000 athletes to compete. Up to now, some sports have been drawn, sports with many participating teams will be divided into groups, while sports with few teams will compete in a round-robin, the scoring method will be arranged by each sport, federation or sports organizing committee at the Games according to its own competition regulations. The 31st SEA Games has 40 sports, more than 50 sub-sports and 526 events.

According to the Medical and Doping Control Subcommittee of the 31st SEA Games, at this congress, the Organizing Committee pays special attention to two issues: Covid-19 prevention and control and food hygiene and safety. The Covid-19 epidemic situation in Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries has also improved due to the vaccination of 2 to 3 doses in Vietnam and other countries. In order to organize the 31st SEA Games well and adapt to the Covid-19 epidemic situation, the subcommittee has taken appropriate measures and plans to ensure the safety of delegations and participants.

To motivate, encourage, and create excitement for athletes, along with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, the Organizing Committee of the Games does not limit or conduct Covid-19 tests for spectators before entering the stadium to watch the games of the Games, but coaches and athletes must be tested daily. If there is an F0, that athlete will be immediately quarantined, and other athletes will still compete normally. All coaches, athletes, members of the Organizing Committee, volunteers, reporters, and other forces must limit close contact, wear masks, and perform 5K. The Organizing Committee also recommends that delegations attending the Games limit sideline activities to maintain health and ensure epidemic prevention during the competition. Before entering Vietnam, all international visitors must have a rapid test result within 24 hours or a PCR test within 72 hours before boarding the plane.

Due to the Covid-19 epidemic situation, the Organizing Committee is quite flexible in the regulations on replacing athletes when there are cases of F0 for collective competitions. Particularly for individual and single competitions, even if an athlete has reached the semi-finals and is detected as F0, the results must be canceled because they cannot compete anymore due to medical isolation regulations. Deputy Director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Le Thi Hoang Yen shared: “The Organizing Committee hopes that when the athletes have been vaccinated, and the epidemic prevention and control measures are strictly implemented, the possibility of F0 cases is quite low. We strictly apply the "one route, two destinations" plan for all delegations attending the congress. The delegations will gather from the hotel to the training and competition locations and return to the hotel in a closed process. When entering Vietnam, the delegations will not be tested at the airport but will focus on doing it at the hotel where they are staying."

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Head of the Logistics and Public Services Subcommittee of the 31st SEA Games, Nguyen Hong Minh said: “An important issue that the Organizing Committee is concerned about is food hygiene and safety. All selected hotels meet 4 to 5 star standards and are close to the training and competition venues of the delegations. We work very closely with the hotels on food, creating a diverse menu and preparing safe food, including food for delegations with Muslim athletes, so that the sports delegations feel most comfortable and satisfied when coming to Vietnam”.

Currently, the Organizing Committee of SEA Games 31 has selected, trained and handed over 3,000 volunteers to serve the congress. Of these, Hanoi has 1,900 volunteers concentrated at Hanoi University and Open University, the remaining about 1,100 volunteers support from co-organizing provinces and cities.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hai Duong, Deputy Head of the Standing Subcommittee of the 31st SEA Games Protocol and Celebration Subcommittee, with the scale of the congress, the workload will certainly be very large and a large number of volunteers will be needed to serve. The selection of volunteers is evaluated based on many criteria such as having a volunteer spirit, good health, being a second-year student or higher, having foreign language skills, and good communication skills.

In Hanoi, the subcommittee has been recruiting since the end of 2021 and has completed instructions for all volunteers in charge of assigned tasks when welcoming, seeing off, and accompanying delegations at the airport to their accommodation and competitions; communication protocols; learning about Vietnamese culture as well as the culture of other countries in participating in support.

Volunteers are provided with full information about the congress; instructions on how to get around; especially those who work as interpreters and MCs. Up to this point, the selection and training of the volunteer team has completed important steps. The team of young, dynamic and enthusiastic volunteers is the bridge in promoting Vietnamese culture, country and people to international friends, contributing to the overall success of the congress.

According to Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Le Thi Hoang Yen, the 31st SEA Games Organizing Committee aims for a fair-play event when organizing 40 sports, mainly basic sports of the Olympics and ASIAD with full content. The goal of our sports delegation at the Games is to be in the top group, striving to be the first in the whole delegation with 150 gold medals. The strategy of Vietnamese sports recently is to focus on ASIAD and Olympic sports, so the SEA Games is an important arena because it is connected to each other. An athlete can win medals in all three arenas.

One of the issues that fans are concerned about is the lack of equipment for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation's competitions in recent times. Due to the short preparation time, the bidding process for purchasing is very difficult due to the Covid-19 epidemic, but the Organizing Committee has also purchased a certain amount for the sports, the rest must try to overcome with the current equipment.

It can be said that the Covid-19 epidemic has greatly affected the preparation process of the host country Vietnam. However, overcoming those difficulties, up to this point the Organizing Committee has done everything possible so that the congress will take place on schedule and be a great success.

The 31st SEA Games is a significant event in cooperation and development among Southeast Asian countries, not only in the field of sports but also in terms of culture, politics, diplomacy and economy. It is a channel to promote the image of the country, people and culture of the countries. The successful hosting of the 31st SEA Games in the current difficult context will be an impressive milestone, conveying positive messages, affirming a strong and responsible Vietnam in the eyes of international friends. For Hanoi in particular, this will be an opportunity to affirm its position as a "City for Peace", a civilized capital with a thousand years of culture.

Thu Trang