Host nation Thailand speaks out about incidents at SEA Games 33

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Thailand has acknowledged the feedback from delegations at the 33rd SEA Games, but they have not yet addressed the issue of the incorrect map of Vietnam being displayed during the opening ceremony, omitting the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

Head of the Thai Sports Delegation Thana Chaiprasit said that he had reported the opinions of the delegations participating in the 33rd SEA Games to Deputy Director General of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) Meechai Inwood. The host country revealed that they would try to resolve the issues immediately.

Thai newspaper reported that the host organizers showed an incorrect map of Vietnam, missing Vietnam's Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos (Photo: Daily News).

The problems that the host of SEA Games 33 has noted and will fix are the airport pick-up and drop-off, which caused some foreign delegations to wait 5-6 hours. Second is the issue of lunch for athletes, the boxed lunch format will be adjusted to a buffet.

Third is the issue of transportation to take teams to the training ground, which takes too much time and disrupts the training schedule of the teams. Fourth is the issue of food for Muslim athletes, mainly athletes from Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Timor Leste. Fifth is the issue of accommodation for athletes.

Some Vietnamese teams reported problems with poor food, difficult travel during training sessions, and slow travel from the airport to the hotel (Photo: Quy Luong).

However, Thai host officials have not mentioned the mistake in the map of Vietnam. When this map was projected at the opening ceremony using laser technology, it did not include Vietnam’s Paracel and Spratly Islands. Thai media later called this a “serious problem”.

In the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games last night (December 9), there were quite a few major mistakes. When introducing the host country of the 19th SEA Games in 1997 in Indonesia, the host Organizing Committee mistakenly showed the Singapore flag instead of the Indonesian flag.

During the drone performance, the host organization continued to confuse the number of official competition events of the congress from 574 to 547. Not only that, many singers performing in the opening ceremony were discovered to be lip-syncing, causing strong reactions from the public in Thailand.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chu-nha-thai-lan-len-tieng-ve-nhung-su-co-o-sea-games-33-20251210114518258.htm