The opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games taking place at 7pm today (December 9) at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok (Thailand) promises to bring a magnificent sound and light party, according to international standards.
At the press conference introducing the opening ceremony, taking place on December 7 in Bangkok, the organizers of the 33rd SEA Games said that the ceremony will include 5 main performances, each of which will bring memorable moments to the audience.
Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok is the venue for the opening ceremony on the evening of December 9 (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
The five performances include a journey back to the roots of the SEA Games, arousing the passion for competition, demonstrating cultural solidarity, demonstrating the spirit of sportsmanship and finally honoring regional friendship, carrying the common slogan of this year's Southeast Asian Games: "We are one".
After the ceremony will be the festival. The festival part of this year's SEA Games opening ceremony will be performances by top Thai artists.
The highlight of the festival, which the host country mentioned, is the appearance of the very famous K-Pop singer of Thai origin “Bam Bam”. Also in the music section, rappers F.Hero - Tong Twopee and Belgian singer of Thai origin Violette Wautier will appear on the stage of the giant Rajamangala stadium.
Host Thailand set a target of more than 200 gold medals, and even calculated the number to be more than 240 gold medals. To reach that number, the host country of the 33rd SEA Games included many new sports or competitions in the competition program.
There are some sports or competitions that, at first hearing, Vietnamese sports fans cannot imagine what they are? How are they played and how are they scored?
As for Vietnam Sports (VS), we do not chase after quantity, we are still steadfast in our goal of focused development, concentrating on winning SEA Games gold medals in the basic sports of the Olympic movement. The target of VS in the Southeast Asian Games is to win 90-110 gold medals, possibly ranking second overall.
SEA Games 33 officially opened on December 9, with 50 sports and 574 competitions held (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
Extremely strange sports at SEA Games 33
The "tradition" of the Southeast Asian Games is that host countries often take the opportunity to include very strange sports and competitions, which only the host country knows the rules of the game, into the competition program.
At the 33rd SEA Games, the first-time appearing sports and events include 5-a-side baseball, canoe slalom (rowing over waves, overcoming obstacles), coastal rowing (rowing on the sea), hockey5s (field hockey with each team of 5 people), kabaddi (a game of Indian origin, similar to the folk game "U" in Vietnam).
Not only that, this list also includes kite boarding, makruk (Thai flag, similar to Cambodia's Oc flag), teqball (a hybrid sport between soccer and table tennis), woodball (using a stick to hit a ball through a tiny wooden gate)...
TTVN is not currently pursuing these very unfamiliar sports or events. These are the sports that appeared in the 33rd SEA Games, but most likely will not appear in the next SEA Games, or the SEA Games after that. At the same time, these sports or events will certainly not appear in the Asian Games and Olympics in the nearest years to come.
Teqball first appeared at the SEA Games, this is a sport that combines football and table tennis (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
Investing in the above sports would therefore be a waste. We are not currently competing for medals in that way. The current policy of Vietnam Sports Administration is to focus on key sports, sports that will appear at the Asiad and Olympics, such as athletics, swimming, shooting, weightlifting, gymnastics, taekwondo, boxing, wrestling...
These are the groups of sports that after the 33rd SEA Games, Vietnam can continue to invest in long-term, seeking medals for the 2026 Asian Games and the 2028 Olympics, as well as the Asian Games and Olympics in the years to come.
In addition, the Vietnamese sports delegation will also focus on a sport that, although it does not help us win an ASIAD or Olympic medal, is extremely popular and creates a huge social effect, which is football.
The strengths and "gold mines" of Vietnamese Sports
Unlike the previous SEA Games, at the 33rd SEA Games, football is a real gold medal "mine" for Vietnam. The host organization, Thailand, will host 4 football events, including men's football, women's football, men's futsal and women's futsal. We have the potential to win gold medals in all 4 events.
Vietnam men's football is currently the AFF Cup champion, the U23 Southeast Asian champion 3 times in a row (2022, 2023 and 2025), Vietnam women's football is the SEA Games champion 4 times in a row in the last 4 tournaments (2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023).
Football is the "mine" of gold medals for the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 33rd SEA Games (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
The Vietnamese women's futsal team is the current Southeast Asian champion. The Vietnamese men's futsal team defeated Thailand (the number one force in Southeast Asian futsal) in the most recent regional tournament.
Athletics continues to be another "gold mine" of Vietnam, with the biggest hope named Nguyen Thi Oanh. The Vietnamese athletics team participated in the 33rd SEA Games with 51 athletes, with the goal of winning 12-14 gold medals. Remember, at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia, the Vietnamese athletics team won 12 gold medals.
The Vietnamese swimming team participated in the SEA Games this year with 16 athletes, aiming to win 6 gold medals or more. At first glance, this target is lower than the 7 gold medals we achieved in Cambodia two years ago. However, that is when we have not yet taken into account the unknowns on the green track that the Vietnamese swimming team owns before the 33rd SEA Games.
Shooting aims to win 7 gold medals, weightlifting strives to maintain or exceed the achievement of 4 gold medals at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, gymnastics aims to win 2-3 gold medals, taekwondo aims to win 3 gold medals, karate is tasked with finding 3-4 gold medals, the wrestling team strives to win 6 gold medals...
Some other sports that promise to explode in Thailand are canoeing, cycling, and fencing. All of the above mentioned sports are official sports of the international Olympic movement. Therefore, winning gold medals in these sports is not only meaningful in terms of quantity, but also reflects the quality of Vietnamese sports that is changing day by day.
Hopes in Thailand
The petite girl Nguyen Thi Oanh continues to be the great hope of the athletics team in particular and Vietnam in general at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games. Nguyen Thi Oanh has almost no rivals in the middle distance to long distance running events: 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m and 10,000m women.
Nguyen Thi Oanh (left) is the hope in Vietnam's "queen sport" (Photo: Manh Quan).
Two years ago in Cambodia, every step and every achievement of Nguyen Thi Oanh in athletics became a symbol of Vietnam Sports Administration, a symbol of Vietnamese youth for their efforts and perseverance on the field, aiming for success. This time, she still received great expectations.
Playing the same role as Nguyen Thi Oanh in the “queen sport” of athletics is Nguyen Huy Hoang in swimming. After Anh Vien retired from competition, Huy Hoang is the number one swimmer on the “green track” of Vietnam Sports Administration. He has almost no rivals in the 400m and 1,500m freestyle events in the Southeast Asian arena.
In addition, at SEA Games 33, Nguyen Huy Hoang is also expected to compete in the 10km long-distance ocean swimming event, a new event introduced by host Thailand into the competition program.
Also in swimming, Pham Thanh Bao is expected to defend his gold medals in the men's 100m and 200m freestyle events. Tran Hung Nguyen will do the same in the men's 200m and 400m medley events.
Another name expected to become the new Anh Vien on the green track is Nguyen Thuy Hien. This 17-year-old girl broke 4 records and won 7 gold medals at the Southeast Asian age group swimming tournament.
In shooting, Vietnam's hopes include Pham Quang Huy, Trinh Thu Vinh, and Ha Minh Thanh. Although host Thailand has cut some of Vietnam's strong shooting events, we can still win many gold medals at this year's SEA Games, especially in the pistol events.
At the 33rd SEA Games, Vietnam's men's football team will compete and win medals at Rajamangala Stadium (Bangkok), swimming will take place at Huamark swimming pool, inside the Rajamangala sports complex, athletics will take place at Supachalasai Stadium (Bangkok), women's football and long-distance swimming will take place in Chonburi (more than 100km from Bangkok)...
Those places will likely be the explosive locations of the Vietnamese sports delegation during the 33rd SEA Games in the land of golden temples.
Vietnam's achievements at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia.
50 sports at SEA Games 33
50 official sports: Aquatics, Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Canoe and Rowing, Cycling, Horse Racing, Fencing, Futsal, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Wrestling, Ice Skating, Ice Hockey, Modern Pentathlon, Weightlifting, Baseball and Softball, Billiards & Snooker, Boxing, Floorball, E-Sports, Muay Thai, Netball, Pencak Silat, Petanque, Sepak Takraw, Squash, Bowling, Extreme Sports, karate, jujitsu, cricket, wushu, kabaddi.
In addition, SEA Games 33 also organized 4 more demonstration events: discus throwing, tug of war, air sports, MMA with 12 sets of medals not counted in the overall achievements.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hom-nay-khai-mac-sea-games-33-the-thao-viet-nam-dat-trong-tam-mon-olympic-20251205142214016.htm
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