The opening ceremony of the regional biennial games will take place on May 12 at Hanoi's My Dinh National Stadium, while the closing ceremony will be held on May 23 at the Indoor Athletics Palace.

Tran Thi Van Anh, deputy director of Hanoi’s Department of Culture and Sports, said scenarios for the opening and closing ceremonies are being finalised.

The organiser of the games has unveiled the slogan of the regional competitions as “For a Stronger South East Asia” which is expected to send to governments and people in the region a strong message of solidarity to build a powerful ASEAN Community and further promote its role in the international arena.

The games’ official logo and mascot have also been introduced, with the logo symbolising a flying bird and a V-shaped hand and the mascot based on the saola – a rare animal listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of Endangered Species.

The 31st SEA Games will be held from May 12-23 in Hanoi and 11 surrounding provinces. Almost 10,000 competitors of all the 11 member countries will vie for medals in 526 events in 40 sports.

It has been postponed due to complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. SEA Games 31 and ASEAN Para Games 11 were originally scheduled to take place from November 21 to December 2 last year./.