Colourful opening ceremony marks the start of 31st SEA Games in Hanoi

The delayed 31st SEA (South-East Asian) Games got underway with a colorful opening ceremony at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam on Thursday.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc declared the games open after a parade of eleven delegations. The competition has already started with the first gold medals already awarded but officially the Games will run from 12-23rd May.

More than five-thousand athletes from eleven nations are set to take part in 40 sports including popular traditional events like Sepak Takraw, Wushu and modern disciplines like E-sports.