SEA Games 31 flame lighting ceremony held

Fencer Vu Thanh An holding the lit torch and other athletes at the SEA Games 31 flame ignition ceremony on May 6. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The flame ignition ceremony for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) was held at the Ho Chi Minh Museum inHanoi on May 6 afternoon to prepare for lighting the cauldron at the Games openingceremony six days later.

Eleven outstanding Vietnamese athletes who represented the 11participating sports delegations took park in the ignition ceremony.

They had laid wreaths and paid tribute to late President HoChi Minh at his mausoleum before Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee ChuNgoc Anh handed over the lit torch to fencer Vu Thanh An at the Ho Chi MinhMuseum.

The athletes arrived at My Dinh National Stadium at 7pm.

The torch is handed over to the management board of the My Dinh national sports complex later on May 6. (Photo: VNA)

The flame will be kept at the Ho Chi Minh worshiping hall ofthe stadium before it lights the cauldron at the opening ceremony on May 12evening and shines throughout the Games that lasts until May 23.

Themed“For a Stronger Southeast Asia”, SEA Games 31 will feature 40 sports and takeplace in Hanoi and 11 nearby localities.

This is the second time Vietnam has hosted aSEA Games, after the first in 2003./.

VNA