VIENTIANE, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Lao student athletes have promised to do better at the 10th ASEAN Schools Games in Malaysia next year after they fell short of targets for the 9th games in Singapore during July 15-19, local media reported on Friday.
The team hoped to come back this week with gold and silver medals but had to settle for two bronze medals in the sepak takraw men's team singles and men's team events.
The Lao team consisted of 26 male and 14 female students, 13 coaches and assistants and 13 officials. This year's lack of medals has been put down to the relative short preparation time for the athletes ahead of the 9th Schools Games in Singapore. At past events, the Lao student team has won silver and bronze medals.
To improve the situation, Lao Ministry of Education and Sports will invest more money for preparing students for the 10th games next year after the ministry this year spent 1,460 million kip (around 177,000 U.S. dollars) to fund participation at Singapore, according to Lao state-run media Vientiane Times.
At this year's 9th ASEAN Schools Games, Thailand finished in first place with 29 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals, while Indonesia stayed second with 25 gold, 33 silver and 29 bronze medals.
Laos is scheduled to host the ASEAN Schools Games in 2022.
