The logo for the 25 th SEA Games, the biennial athletics meeting of Southeast Asian Nations, to be held in Laos in 2009, has been changed to better represent the nation.

The official announcement of the logo change was made on Wednesday night by the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee (LAOSOC) at the Don Chan Palace Hotel.

A member of the organising committee, Mr Khammoui Keomany, said yesterday that from now on the new logo will feature on all 25 th SEA Games products and promotional materials.

“We have had the logo design artwork ready for use to promote the Games with printed T-shirts and other products since earlier this year. But we decided the change of logo was necessary to link the Games and the country,” Mr Khammoui said.

Mr Khammoui explained that two months ago the organising committee discussed the logo design with Southeast Asian Games Council members. “The old logo was also a good and quite artistic design, but we needed to improve it because the logo didn't show any symbol of Laos .”

“We worked on it, and finally we redesigned the logo with the national emblem of Laos , That Luang. This is the new logo and it will not change again,” he said.

Mr Khammoui also explained the organising committee had changed only the logo, while the mascot and other symbols will remain the same.

Male and female elephants named Mr Champa and Miss Champi, symbolic of Laos , have been selected as mascots for the Games.

By Sisay Vilaysack
vientianetimes