Eleven athletes from Arakan State participate in 32nd SEA Games

By Admin 05 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
5 May 2023, Sittwe

Eleven athletes from Arakan State are contesting in the ongoing 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia, representing Myanmar, according to the Arakan State Sports and Physical Education Department.

The SEA Games are being held in Phnom Penh from May 5 to May 17. Athletes from Arakan State are in sepak takraw, Taekwondo, judo, volleyball, cricket, football, billiard and snooker teams.

Deputy assistant director Daw Chitsu Khaing of Arakan State Sports and Education Department said: “A total of 11 male and female athletes from Arakan State were selected to join the national teams to contest in SEA Games.”

The athletes are respectively from Sittwe, Kyauktaw, Myebon, Minbya, Ann, Thandwe, Gwa and Ramree.

There are 39 different sports at the 32nd edition of the SEA Games. A total of 342 athletes from Myanmar are contesting in 19 sports.

Footballer Ko Kaung Myat Kaw of the “Rakkhapura United” football team in Myanmar National League-2 said he is happy and proud that athletes from Arakan State are selected to national teams for the SEA Games.

“Compared with other countries, we have to try further. But it is fair to say Arakan State has developed [in terms of sports] compared to the past. We are proud and happy that athletes from Arakan State are selected,” he said.

The SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines and East Timor.

The first SEA Games, then known as Southeast Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games, was held in Thailand in 1959. The name was changed to Southeast Asian Games in 1977, popularly known as SEA Games.