Serious scandal of Vietnamese sports

N THE PAINFUL NUMBERS

On January 17, Thanh Nien Newspaper contacted athlete Pham Nhu Phuong, the 20-year-old girl who bravely exposed the truth about the coach demanding to deduct a percentage from the athlete's medal bonus. Phuong authorized her sister, Pham Hong Anh, who is also her representative, to respond. Previously, Phuong shared in the press that for each medal awarded, in addition to 10% income tax, Phuong had to pay an additional 10% to her coach at the gymnastics department of the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center. In addition to deducting 10% of the medal bonus for the coach, Phuong also had to pay a bonus, with a collection rate of up to 50%. The coach mentioned here is NTD - also Phuong's direct coach on the national gymnastics team. Phuong had to decide to retire at the age of 20 (also because coach NTD forgot to report that Phuong's family had asked for leave for her, so the Department of Sports and Physical Training did not call Phuong to the team anymore).

Athlete Pham Nhu Phuong retired from his career at the age of 20.

Ms. Pham Hong Anh shared: "In addition to having to cut her bonus to pay the athletes, Phuong was also instructed by the coaches to do something wrong. Recently, my brother showed me a group, created in 2020. In it, there were messages about receiving the athletes' working days. According to state regulations, on weekday training days, each athlete gets 270,000 VND/day. Saturday and Sunday training is 540,000 VND/day. But athletes who do not train on Saturday and Sunday, including my brother, still receive this money because the coaches do the paperwork to legalize the state's money. The reason I know Phuong and the athletes do not train is because she goes home every weekend. Each athlete gets to keep the Sunday training wages (actually not training) of 270,000 VND/day. The remaining 270,000 VND is given to the coach. I told Phuong, it is illegal for you to receive money like this. My brother asked, why Is it illegal again, sister? I have explained it very clearly to you. Our family will send an official dispatch to the relevant agencies to return this money. Because taking money like that is no different from embezzling the state budget."

A SERIES OF COACHES HAVE BEEN AND WILL BE SUSPENDED

During the meeting chaired by the leaders of the Department of Sports and Physical Training, Coach NTD admitted to having collected deductions from the athletes' bonuses. With this wrongful action, Coach NTD was dismissed from training in the national team and will have to return the entire percentage to Phuong. Because Coach NTD is an officer of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Physical Training, Hanoi Sports Competition and Training Center, this Coach must also be subject to other forms of treatment from the management unit.

The scandal does not stop here, as shared by Pham Nhu Phuong's family, in the meeting on the morning of January 17, the coaching staff of the Vietnam Gymnastics team also admitted to having clocked in for athletes on days off, but the athletes were only paid half the amount, the other half had to be paid into the team's fund. This is also against the principles and regulations of the state on national team training. Director of the Department of Sports and Physical Training Dang Ha Viet affirmed that no team is allowed to set up a separate fund but the money is taken from the athletes. The coach of the men's Gymnastics team is Mr. TTH and the coach of the women's Gymnastics team is Ms. NTTT. Another important issue raised here is the role of the Hanoi National Sports Training Center in supervising and managing the teams. The clocking in for training days for athletes must always be reported to the center, and whether the team practices or not, the center must also know. But the scandal of collecting half of the wages from athletes has lasted for many years without anyone knowing, or if they know, can they ignore it?

Vietnamese sports are making great efforts to achieve many international achievements, but will it be sustainable when there are still serious scandals within Vietnamese sports, leaving behind bitter and painful lessons? Individuals and groups that have committed violations have been and will be severely disciplined to set an example for other teams. But are there any other hidden corners of Vietnamese sports that industry leaders do not know about?

A bitter lesson

Regarding the temporary solution, in an urgent meeting late yesterday afternoon (January 17), Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong directed to strictly handle the incident in the Gymnastics team, and requested the national sports training centers in the regions to review the management of the teams. All books and documents on athletes' timekeeping will be thoroughly checked this week to detect whether there has been any shady or illegal timekeeping of athletes. Industry leaders also instructed all teams not to "extort" or demand that athletes deduct a percentage of their medal bonuses. Regarding the long-term solution, the sports industry leaders requested the Department of Sports and Physical Training to promptly review the procedures on team management, possibly rebuilding or adding some new regulations to suit the reality. Only with strict management will Vietnamese sports be free from scandals.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/be-boi-nghiem-trong-cua-the-thao-viet-nam-185240117220816825.htm