SINGAPORE — The 28th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) begins in Singapore next week, an event that promises to showcase the region's spectacular economic growth as much as the athletes and their competitions. Like all regional multi-sports events, the SEA Games struggles for mainstream recognition outside its own borders, but for the 11 competing countries, the stakes could hardly be higher. Around 7,000 athletes will flock to the tiny city-state for the June 5-16 event, competing in 36 different sports for more than 400 gold medals. For the competitors themselves, the biennial SEA games are like a mini-Olympics, bringing enormous pride to the competing nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and East Timor. — Reuters
