NAKHON RATCHASIMA (Thailand) - GYMNASTICS and basketball are in doubt for the next edition of the South-east Asian Games after 2009 host Laos confirmed on Wednesday that it cannot stage the events.

Laos sporting officials said its host city, the capital Vientiane, did not have adequate facilities to hold the events, which are staples of most multi-sports games.

'There will no gymnastics and basketball during the 25th SEA Games,' Laos team commissioner Somphu Pangsa said. 'There are no huge venues for indoor sports like these.' Mr Pangsa said Laos intended to cut the number of sports from 43 in the current games to 25, but would not reveal which other sports were to be excluded.

Thailand officials have thrown gymnastics and basketball a lifeline, saying they are prepared to concurrently host the gymnastics in cities neighboring the Laos border, such as Nongkhai, Ubon Ratchathani, or Udon Thani.

'We were informed by the South-east Asian Gymnastics Confederation that there will be no gymnastics in the 25th SEA Games in Laos, so the president of the Thailand Gymnastics Association is currently negotiating with the Laos sport minister to host the gymnastics on Thai soil at the same time as the games in Laos, and the winner will receive the SEA Games medal like it was being played in Laos,' Mr Sarayuth Phanasak, secretary of Thailand's Gymnastic Association, said.

'We have seen that SEA Games is the chance for developing gymnastic sport for athletes in South-east Asian nations, and if we don't have these kind of sports the gymnasts in this region will lose their chance to develop, so that's why we're pushing hard to have this.' -- AP