Myanmar closes successful SEA Games
The 27th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar came to an end yesterday (Sunday 22nd December) with a lavish closing ceremony.
Held every two years, the SEA Games are ASEAN region's biggest sporting event and were being in Myanmar for the first time more than 40 years.
Focussing on venues in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw, but with events also staged in Yangoon, Mandalay and Ngwesaung, the SEA Games saw three weeks of competition in 33 sports including track and field, basketball, swimming and boxing being joined by regional sports such as sepak takraw, a cross between football and volleyball, and pencak silat, a form of martial arts.
Thailand topped the SEA Games 2013 medal table with 107 Gold medals and a total of 282 medals, Myanmar was second with 86 Gold Medals and Vietnam was third with 73 Golds.
The Games' most controversial moment occurred during the football tournament when the home team exited the competition in the group stage on 17th December.
Among a 30,000 crowd, Myanmar fans started throwing bags of water and sandals onto the pitch. Others broke the stadium's plastic chairs and tossed them over the protective fence that lines the field while two fans breached security and ran onto the field.
Later, fans outside the stadium threw rocks at police and at the east entrance to the stadium firefighters had to extinguish fires lit by fans.
Image shows the opening of the SEA Games. Credit: Global Times.
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