Brunei to send 23 athletes to SEA Games 31 hinh anh 1A signboard in downtown Hanoi celebrates the upcoming SEA Games 31 (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Brunei will send 23 athletes to the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) to be hosted by Vietnam this month, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

It will be the smallest delegation at the regional sporting event in the past 23 years.

The athletes will compete in pencak silat, wushu, karate, and e-sports. They are training in a sport village at the Hassanal Bolkiah national sport complex and scheduled to fly to Vietnam on May 6.

Since Brunei hosted the 20th edition in 1999, the country has sent at least 60 athletes to each of the subsequent SEA Games. Its contingent was 370 at the SEA Games 20 - its largest ever, followed by that of 271 to SEA Games 23 hosted by the Philippines in 2005.

Brunei participated the SEA Games the first time in 1977 and has since bagged 14 gold, 56 silver and 184 bronze medals in total.

It obtained the best results at SEA Games 20 on home soil, clinching four golds, 12 silvers and 32 bronzes.

In the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, the country’s athletes secured two gold, five silver and six bronze medals.

SEA Games 31, themed “For a Stronger South East Asia”, will be held in the capital city of Hanoi and 11 neighbouring provinces and cities from May 12 to 23./.

VNA