Image error of Vietnam's territory at the opening ceremony of SEA Games 33

(Dan Tri) - The opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games on the evening of December 9 in Bangkok (Thailand) made a mistake related to the image of Vietnam's territory when it only displayed the mainland, missing the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and Phu Quoc island.

In the presentation simulating the map of Southeast Asian countries, the image of Vietnam displayed by the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee only had the mainland, completely missing the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa, Truong Sa and Phu Quoc Island. This notable error was quickly discovered by those watching the opening ceremony.

Immediately after the incident, the Vietnamese Sports Delegation quickly responded. According to Dan Tri's source, the representative of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation contacted the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand to coordinate the handling and will provide official information tomorrow (December 10).

The 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee introduced a map of Vietnam that only included the mainland, missing the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and Phu Quoc Island (Photo: Screenshot).

Not only the map issue, the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee also caused controversy when it mistook the Indonesian flag for Singapore's. The incident occurred in the introduction of the countries that hosted the SEA Games. In the 1997 Games, Indonesia was the host country. On the electronic board, the organizing committee correctly displayed "Indonesia 1997", but the flag illustration behind it was mistaken for the flag of Singapore.

The flag mishap was just one of the incidents at the opening ceremony. The organizing committee made a mistake in the number of medal sets at the 33rd SEA Games. At this event, there were 574 medal sets to be awarded, however, the drone lettering at Rajamangala Stadium showed the number 547.

Before the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee also used the wrong national flags when making the futsal competition schedule. Accordingly, instead of hanging the Thai flag, the Organizing Committee used the Vietnamese flag, and the Indonesian flag was mistaken for the Lao flag.

While waiting for a response from the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee, Vietnamese public opinion continues to express the view that international events, especially the iconic sports festival of the ASEAN bloc, need to ensure absolute respect for the image of the territory, sovereignty and national symbols.

In addition to the confusion, the opening ceremony was also interrupted for about 30 minutes, forcing the two MCs to make jokes to maintain the atmosphere. The camera almost only panned on the stands, avoiding the VIP area because King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida had not appeared. This incident is rare at an opening ceremony of this magnitude.

When the two royal figures appeared, the surrounding people bowed in unison. Then the entire Rajamangala Stadium performed a memorial ceremony for Queen Sirikit, who passed away at the age of 93 on October 24. Thailand has declared a year of national mourning for this event, so the opening ceremony did not use fireworks.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/sai-sot-hinh-anh-lanh-tho-viet-nam-tai-le-khai-mac-sea-games-33-20251209234441614.htm