Vietnam’s women and Thailand’s men have won the handball competitions of the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The 33rd edition of the SEA Games took place from the 9 to 20 December in Thailand and featured just under 10,000 athletes from 10 countries competing across 50 sports.

The handball competitions took place at the Indoor Athletics Stadium, Eastern National Sports Training Centre in Pattaya, Chon Buri and featured six teams in the men’s competition: Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, while the women’s competition featured four teams; Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore.

Both Vietnam teams were the title-holders from the last edition, held in 2022 on home soil, after the 2021 edition was postponed for a year due to the covid pandemic.

The 2025 men’s competition saw the initial preliminary group won by Thailand, with five wins from their five games, ending with a +67 goal difference. Vietnam finished in second, followed by Singapore (third), Indonesia (fourth), Philippines (five) and Malaysia in sixth, who lost all five of their games. The top four then played each other in the semi-finals, with Thailand seeing off Singapore and Vietnam taking down Indonesia to play for the championship title.

In the men’s gold medal match, the host nation delivered a perfect result for the home fans, as the hosts overcame title-holders Vietnam – minus key players Vu Chi Linh and Nguyen Tien Ngoc Quy who both received three two-minute suspensions – 39:35 (17:17) to win gold.

An even first half ensured a dramatic second, as the home nation outscored their opponents 22:18. Open Kannarong for Thailand and Nguyen Hoang Thanh for Vietnam top-scored with nine goals each. With no bronze match played, Singapore and Indonesia the third spot on the podium while a newly-formed Philippines side finished fifth and Malaysia sixth. 

 

The women’s preliminary group ended with Vietnam – featuring a number of their beach handball squad – finishing top after winning all three of their games with a goal difference of +42. Thailand were second with two wins, Singapore third with one and Philippines finished fourth, having lost all three of their initial clashes.

Vietnam defeated Singapore and Thailand defeated the Philippines in their semi-finals to set up a gold medal clash between the hosts and the winners from last time out.

But Thailand’s women could not repeat the gold medal for the host nation in their final, with title-holders Vietnam switching the result around, winning 24:16 (9:8) for another podium-topping performance, Phung Thi Linh Trang top-scoring with seven goals.

In addition to the indoor handball competitions, familiar global sporting disciplines such as aquatics, archery, athletics, basketball, gymnastics and martial arts amongst others were present, alongside traditional Southeast Asian sports including muaythai, pencak silat, sepak takraw, woodball and wushu. The event also featured petanque, teqball, paragliding, flying disc, tug of war and e-sports.

Events took place in the main host cities of Bangkok and its metropolitan area, Chonburi Province, and Songkhla Province as well other cities hosting some events, including football.

The SEA Games is overseen by the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF). For more information, visit HERE. 

Final Rankings

Men’s competition
1 Thailand
2 Vietnam
3 = Singapore, Indonesia
5 Philippines
6 Malaysia

Women’s competition
1 Vietnam
2 Thailand
3 = Philippines, Singapore

Photos: @UnkerJXsan