The 7th Provincial Sports Congress: Qualitative change

(Baonghean) - The 7th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival will officially open on May 4 at Vinh City Sports Hall. Currently, 4/6 events organized for competition before the festival have been completed. According to the assessment of the Steering Committee (SC) and the Organizing Committee (OC), the professional quality of athletes has been significantly improved. This shows that investment in sports has received more attention from localities.

Taking place from February 21 to May 11, the 7th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival 2014 organized 16 competitions including: karate, pole pushing, wrestling, cross-country, football, volleyball, sepak takraw, petanque, athletics, swimming, shuttlecock kicking, badminton, table tennis, chess, crossbow shooting and tug of war. Up to this point, 4 events have been completed: football, pole pushing, wrestling and cross-country. 2 events will continue to be competed before the festival: karate and volleyball; after the opening ceremony, the remaining 10 events will be competed. Although the number of events organized for competition is not much, for those following the festival, the organization and professional quality of the athletes participating in the competition have clearly changed.

Athletes compete in cross country running.

The event of the recently concluded Provincial Sports Festival was cross-country, taking place on March 25 in Vinh City, with the participation of 103 athletes from 13 districts, cities and towns: Con Cuong, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Quy Hop and Quy Chau. With the sponsorship of Saigon Thuong Tin Bank Sacombank, the athletes competing in the Sports Festival program competed with nearly 500 other athletes, including professional athletes from the provincial team gathering at the Provincial Sports Training Center and athletes who are students of high schools in Vinh City.

Mr. Vu Van Nam - specialist of the Sports Affairs Department (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism) said: "Organizing in the above form, besides affirming the social nature of the tournament, helps athletes competing in the sports festival program have more motivation to achieve better results when competing with professional athletes, and high school students when participating in this tournament will have more awareness of health training in cross-country in particular and other sports in general". Athlete Pham Thi Ha from Dien Chau district, who won a bronze medal in the 3,000m event for women, confided: "This is the second time participating in the Sports Festival in cross-country, I find this tournament to be more carefully organized and more exciting. Competing in an atmosphere like this helps me be more excited and win the only medal for the Dien Chau delegation in this event".

Previously, from March 11 to 14, at the Cultural and Sports Center of Nam Dan district, 64 athletes from 7 districts: Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Thai Hoa town and Quy Hop competed very enthusiastically in freestyle wrestling. Compared to the 6th Provincial Sports Festival in 2010, the number of athletes participating in these tournaments increased by more than 10 athletes. This shows that the wrestling training movement in recent times in localities has developed more and has been strongly socialized through wrestling tournaments at early spring festivals such as the Mai King Festival (Nam Dan), the Qua Son Temple Festival (Do Luong), the Vac Village Festival (Thai Hoa town)... At the end of the tournament, the host unit Nam Dan still affirmed its strength in this sport when winning 5 gold medals, 4 bronze medals in 11 weight categories. Up to this point, Nam Dan is the leading team with 7 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 4 bronze medals. Quynh Luu is currently ranked 2nd on the temporary medal table with 6 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. All 6 gold medals were in the pole push event held at the end of February.

In less than 3 months, the 7th National Sports Festival - an important highlight in the sports movement in 2014, will officially open. To prepare well for this playground, Nghe An must first complete its 7th Sports Festival well, because this is not only a playground for athletes to compete but also a sports festival for ethnic groups in the province, each athlete is like a flower that adds color to the movement "All people practice physical training following the example of great Uncle Ho". Mr. Lo Trung Thanh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: "One thing that is very commendable about the previous competitions at the 7th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival is the very good professional quality.

The reason is that in recent years, the sports movement in the province has received the attention of the leadership of the Party committees and local authorities. First of all, it is necessary to mention the attention to investing in building new, renovating and upgrading cultural and sports facilities such as stadiums, gymnasiums, playgrounds and training grounds in communes, wards, agencies, schools... creating conditions for everyone to participate in sports activities, developing the movement in both breadth and depth, attracting people to regularly participate in sports practice. The successful organization of the Sports Festivals of 20 districts, cities and towns (except the newly established Hoang Mai Town) in the past time is a concrete demonstration of the sports movement in the province. Although there are still many sports that have not been competed, the quality of the recent competitions has helped sports people like us to be more excited and confident before forming a team to compete at the 7th National Sports Festival held in Nam Dinh in June".

Minh Quan