The Prime Minister has set up the National Steering Panel for preparing and organizing the third Asian Indoor Games, to be staged in the nation in October 2009.
A government decision on May 2 appointed Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan as head of the panel and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh as the deputy head.
The steering panel is responsible for guiding and supervising relevant ministries, branches, Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities in their preparations for the event, which the country will host for the first time.
A total of 45 contingents from countries and territories in Asia will take part in the Indoor Games, staged in Ha Noi, HCMC, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Bac Ninh in the middle of October next year. Attending the event will be about 5,000 athletes and coaches, 800 referees, technical assistants and officials from the Olympic Commission of Asia and the Olympic Committees of Asian nations, as well as about 1,000 local and international reporters.
The 24 sports for the Indoor Games are track and field, swimming, diving, dance sport, petanque, women’s defense martial arts, shuttlecock kicking, sepaktakraw, kurash (Central Asia’s wrestling), Pencak Silat, aerobic, archery, chess, Chinese chess, futsal, Thai moay, vovinam (a Vietnamese traditional martial art), billiard and snooker, unicorn-lion-dragon dance, bowling, kick boxing, e-sport, three-player basketball, and kabadi. Additionally, there will be one demonstration sport, jujitsu, a martial art from Japan.
