Sepak Takraw team actively prepares for Asian Games 19 Photo: VAN DUY
Preparations are almost complete.
Based on the regulations of the organizing committee, the Vietnamese Sports Delegation participating in the Asian Games consists of 504 members, led by Head of Delegation Dang Ha Viet and 2 Deputy Heads of Delegation, Head of High Performance Sports Department 1 Hoang Quoc Vinh and Head of High Performance Sports Department 2 Ngo Ich Quan. The delegation will have 22 officers connecting with the organizing committee to serve the logistics, 16 doctors (including 4 doctors of the Men's and Women's Football teams) to take care of the physical strength, recovery, and injury treatment of the athletes; 22 team leaders, 11 experts and 90 coaches and 337 athletes competing in 31 sports and sub-sports.
According to Dang Ha Viet, Head of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation at the 19th Asian Games, preparations for the Games have been underway since 2022 and immediately after the 32nd SEA Games, the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Department of Sports and Physical Training and other functional units have carefully reviewed and evaluated to help athletes achieve the best results. In preparation for the Games, specialized units under the Department of Sports and Physical Training have divided key sports into groups to have appropriate investment for each group of sports. The teams have also had a plan for domestic and foreign training, domestic and international competitions in a systematic and thorough manner and currently all the work of each person, the number of Delegation officials attending the Games has been carefully calculated, ensuring the best service for athletes during the competition.
Up to now, the preparation work is gradually being completed, from calculating the travel route, booking air tickets to coordinating with the organizing committee to prepare food and accommodation for the athletes. The Vietnamese Sports Delegation will hold a ceremony to attend the Games on September 16. The advantage of this Games is that the attention of all levels, sectors and localities has helped Vietnamese sports have the best force to compete. In particular, Vietnamese sports will bring the winning spirit of the 32nd SEA Games to the largest arena in the continent. The successes at the 32nd SEA Games are the premise and good springboard for Vietnamese sports to reach the continental level Sports Festival, with the participation of 45 countries and territories. However, this will also be a difficult Games for Vietnamese sports.
Faced with many difficulties
First of all, if we look at past achievements, no Games have Vietnamese sports won 5 gold medals. In the most recent Games in 2018, Vietnamese sports were very successful with 4 gold medals including 1 gold medal in the long jump event in athletics, 1 gold medal in women's rowing, and 2 gold medals in Pencak Silat. In theory, Vietnamese sports will have the 5th gold medal in the 400m hurdles event of Quach Thi Lan because the gold medalist tested positive for doping and Lan was promoted from the silver medalist to replace her. But ironically, up to this point, that is, after more than 5 years, the organizing committee has not made any official announcement about awarding gold medals to Vietnamese runners, so the number of gold medals we won at the 18th Asian Games is still at 4.
At this Games, Bui Thi Thu Thao has also passed her peak form and injuries make it difficult for her to repeat her feat, while the achievements of the top 8 best female long jumpers in Asia are far behind Thu Thao's current achievements. Meanwhile, the event that helped the girls of the rowing team win 1 gold medal at the 18th Asian Games and 2 gold medals in Pencak Sialt, was not included in the competition program.
The next difficulty is that this is a Games with the participation of most countries in the continent, with a team of athletes including many Olympic champions and world champions, so it is not easy for Vietnamese athletes to overcome due to the large difference in level. For example, in Weightlifting, although it is called a continental arena, there is full participation of world champions and Olympic champions, especially in the small weight categories where Vietnam has strengths. The most respectable face among them is weightlifter Om Yun Chol (North Korea). Not only is he an Olympic champion, Om Yun Chol also dominated the world championship 5 times. In recent years, the "golden boy" of North Korean weightlifting has suddenly disappeared from many international tournaments, but the Asian weightlifting community has not lost any talent because of that.
According to Mr. Nguyen Huy Hung, in charge of Weightlifting (Department of Sports and Physical Training), the most worrying faces of this Games are the host country's athlete Li Fa Bin and Indonesian athlete Eko Yuli Yrawan. Born in 1993, Li Fa Bin is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, 2-time world champion and 4-time Asian champion. Meanwhile, Eko Yuli Yrawan is the runner-up of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and the 2018 world champion. At the previous Asian Games, Eko won the championship. These are the 2 athletes considered the most promising candidates for the championship, the runner-up in the 61 kg category, so the chance for the runner-up of the 18th Asian Games Trinh Van Vinh and weightlifter Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan at this Games is quite small. In Shooting, the joy is that shooter Trinh Thu Vinh has just won a ticket to the Olympics, but for Vinh and his teammates to compete for medals is not simple because there are strong opponents from Korea, India, and China.
With the sport that brought the Asian Games gold medal to Vietnam, Sepak Takraw, this will also be a difficult Games. Although the athletes have the advantage of being relatively equal in professional level, stable performance, high aspirations, and quite compatible in competition due to having trained together for 3 years, this is a young team, the oldest athlete was born in 1996, the youngest was born in 2004, so they need more time to improve their physical foundation, courage, experience and competitive mentality. The most formidable opponents for the gold medal goal of Vietnamese women's Sepak Takraw at this Games are opponents from Thailand, Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia, China... All countries have also prepared carefully for this arena, so if they want to overcome the "mountain", it will require the athletes to put in double the effort.
Another golden hope is the karate athletes. After a successful SEA Games, Vietnamese karate is aiming to win a gold medal at this continental sports event. According to the head coach of the Vietnamese karate team, Duong Hoang Long, the karate opponents this time come from strong countries such as Japan, Kazakhstan, and Jordan. One of the weight categories that Vietnamese karate hopes for is the women's 55 kg category. To win a medal in this category, Hoang Thi My Tam will have to overcome the champion of the previous Games, Wen Tzu-yun (Taiwan, China), the silver medalist from Iran, Taravat Khaksar, and the bronze medalist from the previous Games, Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarani (Indonesia).
Despite many difficulties and challenges, Vietnamese sports still clearly show their determination to complete the target of winning 2-5 gold medals at the largest and most fierce Games in the continent.
THU SAM
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