Published on December 23, 2005

[UNIVERSITY GAMES] More than 9,000 athletes from 110 varsities will take part in the 33rd University Games at Mahidol University, Salaya Campus in Nakhom Pathom, making it the biggest-ever such meeting. It will feature 23 state-run and 40 private universities, while a total of 276 gold medals in 23 sporting disciplines are up for grabs in the one-week event.

Statesman and Privy Councillor Prem Tinsulanonda will preside over this evening’s opening ceremony at the campus.

Apart from track and field, where the most gold medals (46) are on offer, the competition also features swimming, water polo, basketball, soccer, volleyball (indoor and beach), golf, sepak takraw, fencing, taekwondo, tennis, loop takraw, petanque, rowing and karate-do.

The organisers said this would be the first time that hosts Mahidol will apply the modern reporting system. Not only will there be live broadcasts of some important events, a high-speed Internet connection with a bandwidth of 89 Mbps will be available.

Chasing their dream of a hat-trick in the University Games, overall champions Bangkok University will field a total of 380 athletes in 20 disciplines.

The star-studded team has its sights set on capturing at least 30 gold medals this time.

Preechachan Wiriyanupappong

The Nation

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