VietNamNet Bridge – The SEA Games Athletes Village is located in the newly-developed area in the northwest region of Myanmar’s capital city--Nay Pyi Taw, so athletes will have to face an unexpected problem: mosquitos.

Each room has six beds.

A bed with a mosquito-net.

On Wednesday 182 members of the Vietnam’s sports delegation flew from Hanoi to Nay Pyi Taw, headed by Mr. Lam Quang Thanh. This first group included the men’s and women’s football teams, boxers, the canoeing team, wushu artists, pencak silat players, cyclists and swimmers.

Earlier, the advance team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw on Decmeber 1 to complete procedures for the delegation. According to this team, the athletes’ village is built on forest land and surrounded by swamps and lakes – the ideal environment for mosquitos. The village managers have not had any effective plan to treat mosquito so they deliver each athlete a mosquito net.

This isn’t the first time that the Vietnam’s sports delegation to the SEA Games has had to deal with mosquitoes. In 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima of Thailand, the U23 football team also lost sleep because of mosquitoes.

In sports, sometimes small problems like mosquitoes can affect athletes’ performance.

After obtaining information from the advance team, Vietnamese athletes have had their plans to combat with mosquitoes. The U23 football team stayed at a hotel outside the village so they can avoid this trouble.

In the early days of operation, the village lost power frequently. The Management Board pledged that this situation would be improved during the SEA Games, but this is unavoidable issue because Myanmar is in severe shortages of electricity.

The rooms of Vietnamese athletes are quite new but each room is only equipped with minimum furniture like beds, tables and chairs. Only the rooms of the head of the delegation and the medical room have a freezer. The living conditions in the athletes’ village are only average.

The next group will depart on December 9, while the remaining team members will fly to Myanmar on December 14.

Much of the Games will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television (VTV) channels (VTV2, VTV3 and VTV6).

VTV officials have decided to air live all 16 matches of the men's football team and eight of the women's matches, which include all games Vietnam is competing in.

The national TV station will also televise live interviews and reports during the biennial Games.

Fans can access http://seagames27.vtv.vn to read news, bulletins, features and watch videos.

Nguyen Nam