Thailand Tightens Security For 2025 SEA Games Athletes Impact Of Border Clashes With Cambodia

Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Thammanat Prompao (left), ensure the safety of the 2025 SEA Games (Instagram/@thamanatofficial) athletes.

JAKARTA The Thai government has decided to improve security for the 2025 SEA Games participating athletes following the reheating of clashes on the border with neighboring Cambodia recently.

The opening of the biennial multi-branch sporting event will take place on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at the Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok. Dozens of athletes came there for the event which lasted until December 20, 2025.

Various branches ranging from football, fencing, skateboarding, screens to fighting and traditional sports are competed in this sporting event. Overall there were 51 sports contested.

A number of world-class athletes took part, including gold winner at the Hidilyn Diaz (Philippine) weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah, and host badminton seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

The King and Queen of Thailand are scheduled to lead the official opening featuring a performance from BamBam, a Thai artist with a career in South Korea.

Outside the competition arena, the security situation became a concern following the re-emergence of arms conflicts related to border disputes between the two countries.

Clashes this week reportedly killed six Cambodian civilians and three Thai soldiers, and injured more than 20 people.

The situation prompted Cambodia to pull about half of its contingent and withdraw from eight branches including football, wrestling, judo, and karate.

In the midst of the unstopped conflict, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister, Thammanat Prompao, emphasized that the hosts would guarantee maximum security for all athletes, especially from Cambodia.

"Thailand will ensure the highest level of security for Cambodian athletes," he was quoted as saying by France24.

He said the security forces had been alerted at various important points even though they did not detail operational steps for safety reasons.

Thailand returned to host after the last held the SEA Games in 2007. Indonesia took part by sending 1,021 athletes with the target of bringing home 80 gold medals.