Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore named as hosts of consecutive SEA Games from 2025

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have been named as the hosts of the 2025, 2027 and 2029 editions of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The SEA Games Federation Council revealed the locations of the event hosts following a meeting held in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi where the delayed 31st SEA Games commenced on Thursday.

With the next SEA Games due to take place in Cambodia in 2023, the Council confirmed that the Thai capital of Bangkok will play host in 2025 followed by Malaysia in 2027 and Singapore in 2029.

Thailand staged the inaugural edition of the Games in 1959 and has since held the biennial event in 1967, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2007.

Malaysia previously held the multi-sport event in 1965, 1971, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2017 and its capital of Kuala Lumpur has now been awarded the rights for the 2027 Games - 10 years after it last played host.

According to reports, the 2027 edition had been earmarked to take place in Brunei only for the country to withdraw its interest.

Singapore is set to hold the Games for the fifth time in 2029 after staging the event in 1973, 1983, 1993 and 2015.

The SEA Games Federation Council meeting was attended by representatives from all 11 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) from the region.

Nguyen Van Hung, head of both the SEA Games Federation and Vietnam Olympic Committee, called on all teams to use Hanoi 2021 - which opened on 12th May and is due to run until 23rd May - as a "stepping stone" to continental and world events.

Van Hung, who is also Vietnam’s Sports Minister, stated “the SEA Games is not only about the sports competitions here, it is a place where we can practice, learn and enhance our competitive capacity to lead into the Asian Games and Olympic Games.

"Through sport, unity, solidarity and mutual understanding and cooperation have developed between our countries.

"Some of the sports events have started already, and through this you can feel the beautiful emotions and love of the Vietnamese people extended toward the athletes of all countries."

Organisers of the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh in Cambodia also gave an update on preparations for the event at the meeting in Hanoi.

Vath Chamroeun, Secretary General of the NOC of Cambodia and Vice-President of the SEA Games Federation, confirmed that the Torch Relay would start at the Angor Wat temple in Siem Reap on 12th February in 2023 before travelling through the other 10 countries in the SEA region.

It is then due to return to Cambodia for the Opening Ceremony in Phnom Penh, scheduled to take place on 5th May next year.

The meeting also saw the SEA Games Federation’s Women and Sport Committee urge all 11 NOCs to establish a women and sport committee and increase women’s participation on the Council to 30%.

The call comes with the aim of ensuring that one in three of the delegates from each NOC will be female when the Council is next due to meet in Cambodia in May next year.

In other Asian event news, the Japanese city of Kobe has been named as the host of the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships.

The Championships will take place at Universiade Memorial Stadium in Kobe Sports Park from 17th to 25th May 2024, having initially been due to be held last year. In April 2020, the 2021 World Para Athletics Championships were rescheduled to 2022 following the postponement of the Tokyo Paralympics.

Image: The Singapore National Stadium will host athletics events at the 2029 SEA Games.