IOC picks up tab for tiny Laotian team

Laos’s Olympic chief Somphou Phongsa admitted there was little hope of any Laotian medals but said the tiny team’s participation was all about putting their country on the map.

“The standard is too high for us to win anything in Beijing but we are proud to represent our country,” Somphou said by telephone from the country’s capital, Vientiane.

“We were lucky to get the four places. We wanted to compete in five sports but our boxers and our taekwondo and judo fighters all failed to qualify.” Laos’s biggest sporting success came at the 2006 Asian Games, when Phoxay Aphailath won a silver medal in the Chinese martial art of wushu.

It is one of Asia’s poorest countries and most of its 5.8 million people have no access to sports facilities, with many living without running water or electricity.

Laos will host the Southeast Asian Games for the first time next year, although it has had to reduce the number of sports by almost half because of chronic cash shortages and a lack of facilities, prompting complaints from other competing nations.