Lao players win gold in men’s shuttlecock

Medal hopes were realised for the Lao Shuttlecock Federation yesterday, as Southisone Thonmanivong was awarded gold in the men’s singles, before joining team mate Khamphong Phouthong to win a second gold medal in the men’s doubles, which will be awarded today.

“I was very happy with the medals today, which is a great contribution by the Lao Shuttlecock Federation,” said federation Secretary Mr Anousone Khenkittisack after the day’s play at Lao-ITECC.

“We saw a confident performance from Mr Southisone, who won the first gold for our federation. He is a former national Sepak Takraw player, so he’s skilful and has developed extremely good shuttlecock skills with the help of our Vietnamese coach,” said Mr Anousone.

The win gives Southisone his second medal, since he won silver at the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam, following this up with training and further competition experience at other international events.

Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia are competing in the shuttlecock at this SEA Games. The Lao federation has fielded six male and six female players.

“We still hope for more medals in the shuttlecock competition because there are more events tomorrow, including men’s and women’s doubles and groups and the mixed events,” said Mr Anousone. The Lao shuttlecock players trained hard in Vietnam for the competition, as well as attending the Indoor Games and Vietnamese National Games in August.

The Lao shuttlecock federation was established after Laos was selected to host the 25th SEA Games, with players picked from the sepak takraw federation after they performed well in the 2002 World Foot Shuttlecock Championships in Germany.

The team earned two silver and two bronze medals at the 22nd SEA Games, hosted by Vietnam in 2003.
Shuttlecock is returning to the SEA Games stage for the first time since 2003, having been left off the list by the Philippines and Thai organising committees in 2005 and 2007.

Source: KPL Lao News Agency
December 14, 2009