The 7th National Sports Congress: Identifying Nghe An's strengths

(Baonghean) - In less than 2 months, the 7th National Sports Festival will take place in Nam Dinh. Currently, the Nghe An sports delegation is racing against time to complete the set target of reaching 15th - 13th place overall, with an expected 17 gold medals, 17 silver medals, and 45 bronze medals.

Regarding the force participating in this year's congress, Nghe An sports delegation is quite even and high quality with 173 athletes, 35 coaches, competing in 14 events: Football, athletics, weightlifting, taekwondo, karatedo, wrestling, shuttlecock, rattan ball, petanque... Looking at the teams, there are still bright faces who have participated in previous congresses such as: Nguyen Thi Duong, Vu Thi Hau (taekwondo), Dinh Thi Thuy Hang, Nguyen Thi Quyen (beach rattan ball), Nguyen Thi Thanh (beef ball)... In particular, this year a new name has emerged, Le Thi Tham in weightlifting, who is currently considered to have no opponent in the clean and jerk event, promising to bring home 2 gold medals. Petanque with the "twin" pair Nguyen Thi Le and Nguyen Anh Tu, who have won several consecutive years in the national championship for mixed and mixed team events, also promises to bring home a gold medal.

This year, the Nghe An shuttlecock team is very strong, hoping to bring home 2 gold medals in the men's and women's team events. Athlete Nguyen Thi Thanh said: "Currently, the Nghe An shuttlecock team is the core of the national team, including 3 athletes and 1 coach. Both teachers and students are actively practicing and striving to achieve the highest results." An interesting thing in the vovinam team - the first time Nghe An participates in the combat event - is a very famous name in the pencat silat village, martial artist Truong Van Mao (Asian gold medalist). In addition, participating in the football team will be the best quality players of Song Lam Nghe An Club, led by coach Nguyen Huu Thang, with a very high determination to win the gold medal. According to our observations, the athletes and coaches at the center are very enthusiastic, diligently practicing, determined to achieve the best results in this big playground.

Nghe An sports delegation held a departure ceremony.

Of the 14 sports that Nghe An participated in the congress, there were 8 martial arts. These are the main sports of Nghe An sports delegation. According to the assessment of Mr. Nguyen Hoang Trung - Deputy Director of Nghe An Sports Training Center, for martial arts and wrestling, winning gold medals is not easy, because this national sports congress will gather all the "heroes" at the national team level... In addition, some of Nghe An's strong sports have been cut compared to the previous congress such as traditional wrestling, crossbow shooting, and stick pushing. Some weight categories in pencat silat, taekwondo, and wushu were not included in the competition program by the Organizing Committee, causing Nghe An to be at a disadvantage in finding more gold medals. Faced with these difficulties, through discussion, Coach Bui Duy Vinh - Head of the traditional martial arts - boxing department said: "Winning a gold medal at the National Sports Congress is a great honor. This is the clearest reflection of the local sports development process over the past 4 years.

Traditional martial arts - boxing is considered the main sport with the hope of bringing the most medals to the Nghe An sports delegation, because this year it has brought home nearly 60 medals of all kinds from domestic and international tournaments. From 2002 to now, Nghe An traditional martial arts - boxing has continuously been in the top 3 strongest clubs. Notably, in 2010, Nghe An sports delegation participated in the National Sports Festival and won a total of 8 gold medals, of which the traditional martial arts - boxing alone won 6 gold medals, of which boxing contributed 4 gold medals and traditional martial arts contributed 2 gold medals. 2010 was also the year that Nghe An boxing rose to the number 1 position in the country, contributing 8 athletes to the Vietnamese team. Through the introduction of coach Bui Duy Vinh, we got to know a face, a golden hope for this congress, that is athlete Ngu Thi Thuyet. From 2008 to now, Ngu Thi Thuyet has continuously achieved success with dozens of medals of all kinds, affirming the number 1 position in Vietnam in the 57 - 60 kg category of women's kick-boxing. Thuyet said: "Currently, I am both participating in training and competing and studying a regular university training program. My goal is to strive to win a gold medal at the 7th National Sports Congress before retiring from competition to realize my dream of becoming a professional coach."

The preparation and investment for this congress is also much better than the previous congress. For the first time, Nghe An sports delegation is allowed to contract with athletes and coaches with quality in training and competition (this was previously only available in football), contributing to significantly improving the quality of sports that are not Nghe An's strengths. At the beginning of this year, the Provincial People's Committee also promptly issued regulations on the level of regular training equipment for coaches and high-performance athletes (one of the first provinces in the country to issue this regulation). This has greatly supported teachers and students who have long been lacking training equipment. At the same time, the province has also issued regulations on "hot" bonuses for athletes and coaches with the highest level of 3 million VND. In addition, the nutritional level for athletes during competition has been increased to 200,000 VND/person/day... All of these things have encouraged and motivated the competitive spirit of athletes of the provincial sports delegation when entering the match.

Nghe An Sports Delegation has officially held a ceremony to send off to participate in the 7th National Sports Festival. We believe that with the spirit of overcoming difficulties, the athletes will compete confidently, bring success, and meet the expectations of the people of the province.

Article and photos:Hoang Nguyen