What do you see through the achievements of Vietnamese sports at ASIAD up to now?

Remarkable achievements

After the country's reunification in 1982 in New Delhi (India), Vietnamese sports marked their return to the ASIAD arena with a bronze medal for shooter Nguyen Quoc Cuong in shooting. Former Head of the Department of High Performance Sports under the Sports Committee (now the Sports Department) Nguyen Hong Minh said that despite many difficulties, especially in the preparation of forces, Vietnamese sports also showed positive movements in the new period.

Duong Thuy Vi won a rare gold medal for Vietnam at the 2014 ASIAD.

Absent from the 1986 ASIAD, Vietnamese sports returned to the 1990 ASIAD in Beijing (China) with more than 100 athletes, competing in 13 events but did not win any medals. Four years later at the Hiroshima ASIAD (Japan), the Vietnamese sports delegation participated with 84 athletes and excellently won a historic gold medal thanks to taekwondo fighter Tran Quang Ha, and also had 2 silver medals by Pham Hong Ha and Tran Van Thong in karate. At the 1998 ASIAD in Thailand, the Vietnamese sports delegation continued to defend 1 gold medal in taekwondo thanks to fighter Ho Nhat Thong, and also won 5 more silver medals in karate, sepak takraw, and wushu.

The 2002 Busan ASIAD (South Korea) marked a milestone for karate when Vu Kim Anh and Nguyen Trong Bao Ngoc won two gold medals. "I remember that before this ASIAD, there was a controversy in karate regarding the selection of athletes, and the result was that karate won big with two gold medals, marking a new development step for this Olympic sport," said Nguyen Hong Minh. This was also a very successful ASIAD for Vietnamese sports, because in addition to the two gold medals in karate, there were also two gold medals from bodybuilding by Ly Duc and billiards by Tran Dinh Hoa.

At the 2006 ASIAD Doha (Qatar), the mark of the Vietnamese sports delegation was 2 historic gold medals in sepak takraw and karate gold medal of Vu Thi Nguyet Anh. 4 years later in Guangzhou (China), karate fighter Le Bich Phuong saved the Vietnamese sports delegation from going empty-handed at the Games. The situation was similar for Vietnamese sports at the 2014 ASIAD Incheon (Korea) when there was only 1 gold medal by wushu fighter Duong Thuy Vi.

The 2018 ASIAD in Indonesia marked a turning point for Vietnamese sports with a historic achievement in athletics when Bui Thi Thu Thao (long jump) and Quach Thi Lan (400m hurdles) won two gold medals for the first time. In addition, there were two gold medals in pencak silat and one valuable gold medal in rowing. "This ASIAD shows the progress of Vietnamese sports in the Olympic system, especially the mark in the queen sport of athletics," said Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh.

Why not rise in the ASIAD arena?

According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh: "Winning the SEA Games does not seem to promote any high achievements at the ASIAD. So what is the reason? I have synthesized, analyzed and found that there is a problem in the strategy for developing Vietnamese sports. The first problem is that in the strategy that was discussed a lot in the years 2000 to 2010, the number 1 goal in the strategy is to always maintain the top 3 SEA Games, and then talk about choosing some sports to participate in the ASIAD and the Olympics. For such a long time, we only focused on the regional arena while the ASIAD arena has not been properly invested. One of the most senior leaders of the Vietnamese sports industry told me: No matter what, if the SEA Games fail, it is unacceptable. If we are not in the top 3, we are... dead. And until most recently at the 32nd SEA Games, Vietnamese sports managers still stated that the SEA Games arena is the focus. Such a strategic determination This leads to the investment of money, effort, equipment purchase, nutrition, training, and coaching being mostly focused on the SEA Games, leaving not enough for investment in the ASIAD. In my opinion, this is the main reason why Vietnamese sports cannot have a worthy position in the Asian Games.

Outside the top 15 in Asia

Statistics on Vietnam's sports achievements over the ASIADs show that they are still "modest" when we only ranked 15th overall in 2002, and the rest are outside the top 15. The total number of medals that the Vietnamese sports delegation has won since 1982 is 15 gold, 70 silver, and 85 bronze. Meanwhile, Thailand has consistently been in the top 10 of the ASIADs with the number of gold medals often more than double that of Vietnam.

The reality of Vietnamese sports is that few sports receive long-term investment for specific goals. Only when the congresses are near do some teams go on training trips. Such trips are mainly for a "change of pace" and hardly create a breakthrough in expertise. "Sports must be a continuous investment, with a clear strategy to hope to reap achievements. The way we are doing it now is not suitable. I want to analyze and say things from my heart with the hope that Vietnamese sports managers will learn and listen to have the right investment direction. We should not consider the first and second place in the SEA Games as endless glory and forget the bigger arenas of ASIAD and the Olympics. Let's ask why Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are behind us in the SEA Games but often achieve better results in ASIAD and the Olympics," said Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh.

 

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