Thailand to host 2025 SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games with 2 billion baht budget

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Photo via ThaiRath

 

By Petch Petpailin

 

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports announced yesterday that Thailand will host the 2025 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) and ASEAN Para Games with a budget of over 2 billion baht.

 

Thailand is set to host the 33rd SEA Games, which will take place in three main provinces: Bangkok, Chon Buri, and Songkhla, from December 9 to 20, 2025.

 

The country will then host the ASEAN Para Games from January 20 to 26, 2026 in Nakhon Ratchasima, a province in the Isaan region, also known as Korat.

 

The Minister of Tourism and Sports, Sorawong Thienthong, attended a meeting yesterday, November 28, to officially approve the logo and mascot for both events. The designs were selected through a previous competition and focused on promoting Thailand’s soft power.

 

The winning logo for the SEA Games features a colourful fish swimming in a circle, inspired by the Siamese fighting fish, known in Thai as Pla Kat. The mascot is a mythical Thai creature, Waree Kunchorn, holding a torch. This creature has a body combining elements of an elephant and a fish.

 

For the ASEAN Para Games, the logo symbolises disabled athletes and incorporates the Thai national flag. The mascot is a Korat cat, a silver-tipped, blue-grey breed, wearing a pha khao ma (a traditional Thai checkered scarf) and holding a torch.

 

 

At the end of the meeting, Sorawong announced during a press conference that 50 sports would be included in the SEA Games.

 

He also clarified the total budget allocated for the two sporting events, amounting to 2.055 billion baht, with funding sources as follows:

 

• 577 million baht from the 2025 fiscal year budget
• 115.5 million baht from SEA Games registration fees
• 13.86 million baht from ASEAN Para Games registration fees
• 1.343 billion baht from the Budget Act allocation
• 200 million baht from other income sources.

 

Sorawong emphasised that environmental sustainability would be a key focus of the events, which will adhere to a low-carbon policy. A full report on the carbon footprint of the games will be released upon their conclusion.

 

This will mark the seventh time Thailand has hosted the SEA Games, having previously done so in 1959, 1967, 1975, 1985, 1995, and 2007.

 

Source: The Thaiger

-- 2024-11-29