NAKHON RATCHASIMA (Thailand), Dec 5: The curious domination of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games by host nations appears set to continue at the 2007 edition, which officially opens Thursday in northeast Thailand.

A slew of medals have already been awarded in events that preceded the opening ceremony and Thailand leads with 18 gold.

The host nation is targeting 150 gold medals for the games, seeking to become the fourth consecutive host to dominate following the Philippines in 2005, Vietnam in 2003 and Malaysia in 2001.

Thailand won 14 of the 34 gold medals in shooting this week, which preceded the games proper to avoid a clash with the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait, and on Wednesday won all four golds on offer in aerobics.

Meanwhile Singapore prevented a Thai gold sweep by taking gold in men’s and women’s team table tennis.

The SEA Games, a biannual event contested between Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, East Timor and Brunei-Darrusalam, are being hosted by Thailand for the sixth time.

The first SEA Games in 1959 had 12 sports and 657 athletes, but the 2007 event has 45 events with 6,541 athletes.

With the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing beckoning, most attention in Korat will be on those harbouring genuine Olympic medal hopes.—AP