The 7th National Sports Festival - 2014: "Reach higher!"

(Baonghean) - After days of exciting competition, with the spirit of noble and honest sportsmanship, on the evening of December 16, at Nam Dinh Sports Palace, the 7th National Sports Festival - 2014 closed after the artistic performances of "flowers of peace", "bright stars", "reach higher", "fairy dreams" as a farewell from the people of Thanh Nam...

The Organizing Committee awarded the flag to An Giang - the organizer of the 2018 National Sports Festival.

The 7th National Sports Festival in 2014 became a demonstration of strength for athletes nationwide, promoting the movement "All people exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho". With careful investment from localities and determination to compete for high achievements, at this year's festival, athletes broke 158 festival records, establishing 57 national records (diving: 26 records; shooting: set 4 national records, broke 1 world record; athletics: the first 4 records were set; weightlifting: set 7 national records...). There were athletes with particularly outstanding achievements such as swimmer Anh Vien who won 20 medals (including 18 gold) and broke 14 national and festival records. These successes marked a new development step of the mass sports movement and high achievements of the country.

Leading the medal table this year are still the units with the largest number of participating athletes and high quality. The first, second and third positions of the whole delegation respectively belong to Hanoi with 167 gold medals, 118 silver medals and 137 bronze medals; Ho Chi Minh City achieved 124 gold medals, 103 silver medals, 104 bronze medals; the Army 75 gold medals, 54 silver medals, 91 bronze medals. Most notably, in other provinces and cities, the Thanh Hoa sports delegation excellently ranked fourth with 41 gold medals, 30 silver medals, 29 bronze medals, which is something for us to learn from.

Attending this congress, Nghe An sports delegation had 173 athletes, 35 coaches, competing in 14 sports. At the end of the congress, Nghe An delegation ranked 15th on the overall ranking with 14 gold medals (2 rattan ball, 2 petanque, 2 vovinam, 1 pencatsilat, 2 traditional martial arts, 2 weightlifting, 1 football, 2 shuttlecock kicking), 10 silver medals, 22 bronze medals. Previously, at the departure ceremony, the target set by Nghe An sports delegation at this congress was to reach 15th - 13th position overall, expected to win 17 gold medals, 17 silver medals, 45 bronze medals.

Nghe An excellently won the football gold medal at the congress

Talking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tam - Director of Nghe An Sports Training Center said: "Compared to the set targets as well as the current potential of Nghe An sports, the 15th position on the overall ranking as well as the number of medals achieved at this year's congress of Nghe An delegation has not been achieved as expected. In which, there are subjective and objective reasons, which are about the refereeing work, about the athletes' drop points. After this congress, we will organize a meeting of all coaches and athletes in all disciplines to draw experience on what was good and what was not good at this congress for each discipline."

At this year's congress, the key sports expected to win gold for Nghe An are Taekwondo with veteran athletes who have participated in many international arenas such as Nguyen Thi Duong, Vu Thi Hau, or boxing, we are one of the strong units nationwide but the results achieved are not as expected. Besides, some sports that Nghe An has strengths and won consecutive gold at previous congresses such as ethnic wrestling, stick pushing, crossbow shooting, this congress will not be held, or the whusu sport has athletes who participated in ASIAD but were injured and could not participate, which is one of the reasons why the number of gold medals of Nghe An delegation has decreased significantly.

The remarkable thing about Nghe An Sports at this congress is that in the previous congresses we never won a gold medal, but this year we have each won a “double” gold medal. In football, we have attended the congress 7 times empty-handed, but this year we have also won a gold medal. This will be a great motivation to help coach Ngo Quang Truong and his team be more confident when the 2015 V.League season is about to begin.

The results of the Sports Congresses at all levels and this National Sports Congress have contributed to raising awareness of all levels, sectors and the whole society about the position and role of sports in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland, improving the quality of sports training movements among the masses, preparing athletes to participate in international sports competitions in the coming years. In addition to the achieved results, the organization and refereeing work at this congress also needs to be summarized and comprehensively evaluated, in order to organize well the next congresses, so that the National Sports Congress can truly become a driving force to promote the development of national sports, actively contributing to improving the stature and physical strength of Vietnamese people, meeting the requirements of integration and development.

Duc Dung