What will be the direction of high performance sports?

From 17 to 8

17 here is the initial number of sports that the Sports Department is aiming to include in the list of key sports to prepare for the Olympics and ASIAD in the period 2026-2046. The sports expected to be included in this list include athletics, shooting, archery, taekwondo, weightlifting, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, cycling, judo, wrestling, swimming, badminton, rowing, karate, wushu, and sepak takraw.

Of which, 17 sports are divided into 2 groups. Group 1 includes strong sports with high potential to compete for Olympic medals (8 sports): Shooting, archery, weightlifting, taekwondo, boxing, fencing, rowing, badminton. About 100-110 athletes in this group will be trained long-term abroad.

The Sports Industry continues to consider selecting key sports for the 2026-2046 period.

Group 2 is the potential and potential sports that have a high chance of competing for medals at the ASIAD (9 sports): Athletics, judo, karate, wushu, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, sepak takraw, cycling. 65 - 70 athletes in this group will be invested in a combination of domestic training and short-term training and competition abroad under a special regime.

However, after a recent workshop on the development of a program for key sports to prepare for the Olympics and ASIADs in the 2026-2046 period organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam Sports Administration, there were many comments from experts to ensure that "key" is truly "key". Notably, there were opinions on the need to shorten the list of key sports to focus investment resources, because investing in 17 key sports is still a bit spread out, and the resources of the sports industry will be difficult to meet.

These opinions have been noted and carefully considered with a receptive spirit, so now the Sports sector is recalculating the number of key sports to soon complete the submission on the approval of the Program for developing key sports to prepare for the Olympics and ASIAD in the period 2026-2046. It is expected that the number of key sports in the above program will be 8 instead of 17 as originally planned. That is truly a big change in the way of doing things and building the number of key sports.

Which subjects and content groups will be the focus?

At this point, the identification of key sports and groups of content is being discussed and discussed in detail at the Vietnam Sports Administration, the professional unit in charge of building the Program for developing key sports to prepare for participation in the Olympics and ASIAD in the period 2026-2046, before being submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for submission to the Government for approval.

It is clear that the tasks of the key sports for the Olympic and ASIAD arenas will be different from what was expected. The key sports for the Olympic arena must ensure the ability to win medals in this arena instead of being hesitant as before. Or the key sports for the ASIAD must ensure the ability to win gold medals instead of just "winning medals" as previously expected. And as calculated by experts, with the above criteria, there is a reason to reduce the number of key sports. Because as for the group of sports that can compete for Olympic medals, currently they are still only weightlifting or shooting.

These two sports may also be in contention for the Asian Games gold medal. Meanwhile, archery, taekwondo, boxing, fencing, rowing, and badminton have not shown the ability to compete for Olympic medals in the near future. Even taekwondo once had an athlete win a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics, but since then it has never regained its position in the Olympic arena. Even if taekwondo were well invested, it would take two Olympic cycles for the team to be able to compete for a direct ticket to the Olympics, let alone win an Olympic medal.

The remaining sports also only have athletes who have directly won tickets to the Olympics and at this point the possibility of winning direct tickets to the next Olympics is increasingly difficult.

Meanwhile, with the group of sports that are expected to compete for gold medals at the Asian Games, the nearest being the 2026 Asian Games, if narrowed down, there are only a few sports left such as karate, sepak takraw, wushu, and rowing. The remaining sports such as athletics, judo, wrestling, swimming, gymnastics, etc. in the past also only had a chance to win gold medals. With the current squad, the ability of these sports to compete for gold medals at the Asian Games is also limited. To strengthen the ability of these sports to compete for gold medals at the Asian Games requires a large investment. And in this way, the resources for sports with a high potential to compete for gold medals at the Asian Games will be dispersed. Therefore, the new managers are carefully considering to identify the truly key sports to ensure the ability to win medals at the Olympics and gold medals at the Asian Games.

Of course, it would be best to reduce the number of key sports but not reduce the total estimated budget for these sports. In the estimated investment budget for key sports, the 2026 - 2030 period requires about 175 - 180 billion VND/year/17 sports; the 2030 - 2036 period requires about 175 - 180 billion VND/year/17 sports and an additional 10% for the 2026 - 2030 period; the 2036 - 2046 period requires about 175 - 180 billion VND/year/17 sports and an additional 10% for the 2030 - 2036 period. That is the prerequisite for successfully achieving the goals at the Olympics and ASIAD for key sports. And that is the only way to ensure the true meaning of key investment.

Unstable performance

In the history of participating in the Olympics, Vietnamese sports have won Olympic medals in a number of events including shooting (1 gold medal, 1 silver medal - Olympics in 2016), weightlifting (1 silver medal - Olympics in 2008, 1 bronze medal - Olympics in 2012), taekwondo (1 silver medal - Olympics in 2000). At the Asian Games (ASIAD), Vietnamese sports have won 19 gold medals through the ASIAD. At the 19th ASIAD (the most recent ASIAD), Vietnamese sports won 3 gold medals in karate, sepak takraw, and shooting. Previously, Vietnamese sports won ASIAD gold medals in taekwondo, billiards, bodybuilding, karate, sepak takraw, wushu, athletics, rowing, and pencak silat. The problem lies in the fact that Vietnamese sports' achievements at the Olympics and ASIAD are not stable.

Minh Khue

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/huong-di-cua-the-thao-thanh-tich-cao-se-nhu-the-nao--i765393/