SEA Games 26: Vietnam Flag Raising Ceremony

On the morning of November 9th, the flag-raising ceremony for the sports delegations participating in the 26th SEA Games took place at Jakarta City Hall. At 10:39 AM, the Vietnamese national flag was raised.

Because the SEA Games were held simultaneously in two cities, Jakarta and Palembang, both cities held flag-raising ceremonies. Since the men's football and canoeing competitions were held earlier in Jakarta, the flag-raising ceremony there took place 48 hours before the SEA Games opening ceremony.

The badminton and canoeing teams were training far from the city center, and the large contingent of Vietnamese sports representatives wouldn't arrive in Jakarta until the evening of November 9th, so the sports delegation leaders had to mobilize six members of the U-23 football team to attend the flag-raising ceremony.

The Vietnamese national flag is about to be raised.


Members of the Vietnam U-23 football team during the flag-raising ceremony.


The military band played the Vietnamese national anthem, "Marching Song."


Head of the Vietnamese sports delegation, Lam Quang Thanh, receives the SEA Games emblem.
From the Organizing Committee of the Congress - Photo in the news: Si Huyen

Speaking to Tuoi Tre online after the flag-raising ceremony, the head of the Vietnamese sports delegation, Mr. Lam Quang Thanh, said: “The raising of the Vietnamese national flag this morning marks the arrival of our country's sports teams and those of other countries in the region in Indonesia to participate in the biggest competition in Southeast Asia. The race for the highest achievements has officially begun. With the participation of nearly 900 members, and with the best and most thorough preparation in all aspects, I hope that the national flag will always fly high and that our country will always shine brightly at the competition venues. The goal of the Vietnamese sports delegation is to strive for 70 gold medals...”

This evening, November 9th, Vietnamese sports teams will embark on a massive campaign. A chartered plane will fly over 200 athletes and coaches directly from Hanoi, stopping in Ho Chi Minh City before heading straight to Palembang. Another flight will take the pencak silat, taekwondo, and karatedo teams, with over 100 members, to Jakarta.

According to Tuoi Tre newspaper