The Vietnamese sports delegation to the 17th Asian Games (Asiad) will do
their utmost to bring home many prizes, said a senior sports official.
According
to the Nhan Dan (People) online newspaper, Head of the General
Department of Sports and Physical Training Vuong Bich Thang made the
remarks while answering reporters’ questions on the contingent’s plans
for the upcoming Games in Incheon, Republic of Korea (RoK) from
September 29 to October 4.
* How has Vietnam’s sports sector been preparing for the largest continental sporting event of the year, the 17th Asiad?
The
17th Asiad is considered the most important of the four major
international sporting events for Vietnam in 2014, which also include
the second Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, Asian Para Games in
Incheon and Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand. Therefore, the sports
sector leaders along with professional officials have conducted athlete
selection and training programmes in a methodical and selective fashion
for each sport over the past months.
The majority of our Asiad
contestants are among the 64 athletes scheduled for long-term investment
by the sector and are young but competent in their expertise. Most of
them are currently meeting at three national training centres in Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang for last minute Asiad preparations. Some
others are training abroad at prestigious and famous venues in the
region and around the world such as the United States (swimming and
athletics), RoK (taekwondo) and Japan (gymnastics).
These
overseas training courses are to enable athletes’ access to world-class
training infrastructure and methods, aiming to improve the Vietnamese
delegation’s performance at the upcoming 17th Asiad. Escort officials
are also tasked with gaining experience and knowledge in terms of
training methods and application of modern technology to athlete
training from countries of world-leading sports, and apply them to
athlete training in Vietnam.
*Could you give specific information on the Vietnam sports delegation and their Asiad sports?
Minister
of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh has recently decided to
establish the Vietnam sports contingent to 17th Asiad. Accordingly, the
298-member delegation, led by Deputy Director of General Department of
Sports and Physical Training Lam Quang Thanh, will leave for Incheon for
the Asiad mission and comprises of 199 athletes in 21 sports and 99
trainers, experts, doctors and officials.
Eighteen of the 21
events will have their expenditure sourced from the State budget,
including athletics, swimming, gymnastics, shooting, karate, taekwondo,
sepak takraw, boxing, wrestling, fencing, judo, weightlifting, archery,
rowing, cycling, badminton, football and Wushu. The remaining three
sports – soft tennis, golf and bowling – will be funded from non-State
sources.
*What are the assigned goals for the Vietnam Asiad delegation?
It
is not easy at all to claim gold medals in a competition which draws
the participation of nations of world-class sports development such as
China, RoK, Japan and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
However, the Vietnamese contingent has targeted top victories in
athletics, swimming, gymnastics, shooting, taekwondo, karate, Wushu,
sepak takraw and weightlifting, as our athletes’ performances have
reached the Asian-level gold medal in these nine sports.
Vietnamese
athletes will also strive to win medals in the fields of archery,
wrestling, judo, boxing, badminton, fencing and cycling.