Dang Ha Viet, head of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 19th Asian Games, also known as ASIAD 19, in China, has made an apology to sports fans nationwide as the delegation’s achievements at the tournament were much lower than expected.
The Vietnamese delegation officially wrapped up ASIAD 19 with three golds, five silvers, and 19 bronzes, ranking sixth in Southeast Asia and 21st in Asia.
Vietnam went backward and was lagged far behind other regional competitors although the delegation achieved its gold medal target of two to five golds.
Earlier, Vietnam ranked first at the 2022 and 2023 the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with 205 and 136 gold medals, respectively, far surpassing other regional countries.
However, Vietnam ranked sixth at ASIAD 19 among Southeast Asian countries, following Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Vietnam ranked 21st overall at ASIAD 19, while Thailand ranked eighth.
However, Vietnamese athletes engaged in the games with immense national pride. Some sport teams, such as shooting, sepak takraw, and karate teams, excellently reached their targets, Viet said.
Athletes of other sports, despite bringing home no medal, showed their remarkable progress.
In addition, the Vietnamese women’s volleyball team ranked fourth at ASIAD 19 for the very first time in history.
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| Limited heights and weight are Vietnamese athletes’ weaknesses. Photo: Quy Luong / Tuoi Tre |
Nevertheless, ASIAD 19 left a feeling of regret as cyclist Nguyen Thi That and karate player Hoang Thi My Tam suffered injuries before the tournament, so they failed to bag medals.
Shooter Pham Quang Huy grabbed a gold medal at ASIAD 19 but other shooters—Phan Cong Minh, Ha Minh Thanh, and Trinh Thu Vinh, secured no medal, while they performed well before the games.
Vietnamese athletes’ physical strength and stature are much below those of opponents, Viet admitted, adding that Vietnam had worked out a general plan to improve Vietnamese people’s physical strength and height.
However, the implementation of the plan has not been as expected due to the lack of the coordination of other sectors, such as healthcare and education.
As a case in point, Vietnam is strong in lightweight rowing and won a gold medal for the event at ASIAD 18. However, the event was not included in the tournament this year.
As a result, Vietnamese rowers had to practice heavyweight rowing from early this year. Moreover, Vietnamese rowers are much shorter and lighter than competitors, specifically Chinese.
Viet affirmed that Vietnam’s sports cannot develop in a short period.
The country needs a comprehensive, scientific and methodological process of selecting and training athletes as well as preventing and treating their injuries.
Personnel and modern equipment are also vital to support the testing and assessment of athletes, the analysis of rivals, and the development of a competition system at elementary schools.
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| Vietnam’s athletics squad finishes ASIAD 19 empty-handed. Photo: Duc Khue / Tuoi Tre |
Explaining the contrast between Vietnam’s dominance at SEA Games and the poor performance at ASIAD, Viet said ASIAD and Olympic are the two high-performance tournaments in Asia and the world, respectively.
Sport researchers in the world revealed that high-performance sport tournaments are the playgrounds of large economies.
ASIAD sees the fierce competition of China, Japan, and South Korea, while Olympic is the competition of the U.S., China, and Japan.
Large economies can invest in sports development with well-trained human resources, strong financial capacities, and science-technology.
Viet expected that Vietnamese sport squads will continue receiving the support of local agencies and fans.
“We will continue striving to improve Vietnam’s sport performance,” the official promised.
ASIAD 19, taking place in Hangzhou Province, China from September 23 to October 8, 2023, features a total of 40 sports and 483 events.
Vietnam dispatched a delegation of 504 members to the tournament, including 337 athletes, 90 coaches, and 11 experts, among others. Vietnamese athletes participated in 31 sports and 202 events.
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