Vietnam sports delegation faces difficulties before SEA Games

Difficulties in moving troops to Indonesia and worrying living conditions at the Palembang Athletes' Village are the problems the Vietnamese sports delegation is facing ahead of the Southeast Asian Games, which will open early next month.

Difficult to travel, hard to live

The 26th SEA Games were held simultaneously in two Indonesian cities, Jakarta and Palembang. While Jakarta hosted the regional sports event for the third time (after 1979, 1987, 1997), Palembang was the first. This was the third time the host country chose a location other than its capital to host the SEA Games. Previously, Thailand chose Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima as venues for Southeast Asian athletes in 1995 and 2007.

Palembang is the capital of South Sumatra province. It is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia with a long history associated with the sea and fishing. With an area of ​​400 km2 and a population of nearly 1.5 million, Palembang is the second largest city in Sumatra and the 7th largest in Indonesia.

If traveling by road, it takes a full day to travel from the capital to Palembang. The journey requires two ferry crossings from Java to Sumatra. By air, there are 10 flights between the two cities each day, but the number is limited because the planes are small. This is the reason for the difficulty of the Vietnamese sports delegation traveling at this Southeast Asian Games. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brunei are neighbors of Indonesia, while the remaining countries all have direct flights from their countries to Jakarta or Palembang.

Head of delegation Lam Quang Thanh expressed concern about Indonesia's organization. Photo: The Ngoc.

Only Vietnam and Myanmar will suffer the most in terms of transportation. Due to the lack of direct flights, the Vietnamese sports delegation will have to go through a journey that is considered quite arduous. Departing from Noi Bai or Tan Son Nhat, the Vietnamese athletes will have to transit in Singapore. From the Lion Island, the delegation can fly to Jakarta and continue on a domestic flight from Jakarta to Palembang. During the SEA Games pre-trip, the head of the Vietnamese sports delegation - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training - Lam Quang Thanh had to spend 14 hours traveling. Mr. Thanh departed from Hanoi at 8am and only arrived in Palembang at 10pm the same day. In a difficult situation, Vietnam Airlines will arrange a special plane to fly directly from Hanoi to Palembang in the largest troop movement before the opening day. The delegation carefully calculated the arrangements for the teams to travel on this special plane, based on the competitions in Palembang, the competition schedule, the number of athletes of each team... The remaining delegations were forced to accept the difficulties, moving according to the old plan with two transits.

The host country Indonesia, which is holding the event in two locations, also makes it difficult to direct and manage the teams. The Organizing Committee said that it will provide three free air tickets between Jakarta and Palembang for the heads of delegations of each country. The next flights will have to be self-funded. The ticket price for a one-way flight from Jakarta to Palembang and vice versa is 476 rupiah (equivalent to 1.5 million VND). These three free flights will mainly serve the team leaders attending the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, which will be held at the Musi River by the Kuto Besak Port in Palembang. Communication between team leaders and the head of delegation will mainly be done by phone.

Traveling for athletes is difficult, but accommodation is the issue that worries delegation leader Lam Quang Thanh the most. In Jakarta, the host country did not build an athletes' village, so the participating teams will have to stay at hotels in the capital. Security at hotels in Indonesia is quite good, and security checks are always required when entering and leaving. However, according to Mr. Thanh, traffic congestion in Jakarta is very worrying, although Indonesia will send cars to guide the teams when moving from the hotel to the competition venue. The dispersion of the teams' bases also makes management more difficult, especially in the conditions of frequent traffic jams in Jakarta.

Unlike the capital, in Palembang, the athletes' village was built but on a very small scale, compared to the number of athletes of the teams. For the Vietnamese delegation, the accommodation in the athletes' village can only accommodate 12/17 teams. The remaining teams have to go out to find their own accommodation. Despite its small scale, the facilities and living conditions of the athletes' village in Palembang are also very poor. A room consists of two small rooms with a total of 6 beds and a very small bathroom. This is Mr. Thanh's biggest concern, because it can affect the athletes' physical strength and competition results.

Target 70 gold medals and be in the top

At the 26th SEA Games, the Vietnamese sports delegation consisted of 857 members, including 593 athletes, led by Mr. Lam Quang Thanh - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training. This is the SEA Games in which Vietnam participated with the largest force, with the goal of winning 70 gold medals, placing in the top of the rankings.

In the congress held in his home country, Indonesia set a target of winning the most medals, while Thailand also determined to have about 100 gold medals. According to Mr. Thanh, the biggest rival for Vietnam's third place overall is Malaysia. "Southeast Asian sports are gradually changing, with the appearance of more and more recreational sports. At this SEA Games, the appearance of recreational sports makes it more difficult to predict the number of medals won by competitors.

According to Mr. Thanh, the Malaysian delegation attending the SEA Games has two different components in terms of funding, one is covered by the government and the other is sponsored by the units. "The number of medals for recreational sports is very large at this SEA Games. Meanwhile, Malaysia is very strong in these sports and that is the difficulty for the Vietnamese delegation to compete for a position on the rankings," Mr. Thanh said.

The Vietnamese delegation consists of 42 teams, including 7 teams using socialized funding (paragliding, rollerblading, wall climbing, baseball, basketball, bowling, and synchronized swimming). Athletics is the team with the largest number of participants, with 55 members, aiming to win 8-10 gold medals and qualify for the 2012 London Olympics for Truong Thanh Hang and Vu Thi Huong. Vietnam's "gold mines" are still focused on the judo, shooting, karate, pencak silat, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, taekwondo teams...
The departure ceremony for the Vietnamese sports delegation to the 26th SEA Games will be held at the Hanoi Opera House on October 30.

(According to VnExpress)