The ups and downs at the National Sports Congress

(Baonghean) - The 7th National Sports Festival currently taking place in Nam Dinh province is a major sporting event for the entire province.water.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism declared the National Sports Congress open.

Firstly, choosing to schedule the sports events for the Games in the last two weeks of December was a mistake. This is the time when localities are preparing for year-end summaries and setting directions and targets for the new year, rather than focusing their efforts and resources on competitions. Secondly, the Games coincided with the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup. Evidence of this can be seen in the football matches: at Thien Truong Stadium, the men's and women's football tournaments only attracted a handful of spectators, a stark contrast to the large stands at My Dinh Stadium during national team matches. The organizing committee explained that choosing this "last month of the year" was a last resort, as the Games had already been postponed twice due to delays in the Vietnamese sports delegation's preparations for the 17th Asian Games and construction projects for the Games.

The achievements of the National Sports Games are always highly valued professionally, as they assess the performance of participating units over the past four years. Units with good results receive additional investment, while those that perform poorly may face budget cuts. Achievements are determined by the medals won. Therefore, athletes from various units always strive to achieve their goals, leading to numerous controversies at this year's Games. In wrestling, the appeal to fans wasn't the medals won, but rather the recent scandals: athlete Le Duy Hoi from Can Tho attacked a referee on the mat, and Can Tho's coach Nghiem Xuan Thai insulted the main referee, claiming he was unfairly treated. Prior to that, on December 4th, believing that referee Nguyen Duc Tho had made incorrect calls, coach Dinh Van Kien of the Thua Thien-Hue team threw his shoe and engaged in aggressive behavior that nearly led to a fight.

Previously, lawsuits also occurred in table tennis. Despite knowing full well that such actions were unethical and reflected weaknesses in athlete training, many localities still engaged in them, even enthusiastically. For example, the Hung Yen delegation had all its athletes disqualified due to invalid documentation. However, some other provinces, cities, and sectors were still able to utilize athletes borrowed beforehand, anticipating this situation and circumventing regulations to hire athletes early on. After the National Sports Games, these athletes would return to compete for their localities in the National Championships, Club Cups, etc., thus prolonging the lawsuits. Perhaps the pressure to achieve results led localities to disregard all ethical considerations and engage in such paradoxical practices, tarnishing the image of one of Vietnam's key sports, table tennis.

It's also worth mentioning the highlights of the ongoing Games. Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh broke the world record at the 2014 National Sports Games. In the men's 10m air pistol final, the Army team's shooter scored 207 points, far surpassing his own previous world record set earlier this year (202.8 points). Besides that, Thach Kim Tuan's gold medal in weightlifting is very impressive, as he successively surpassed senior athletes like Huy Toan in the snatch and clean and jerk events. Athlete Vu Thi Huong continued her winning streak in athletics at this year's Games, demonstrating that she has no rivals in the domestic arena. In football, Vietnam's "golden girl," Van Thi Thanh, also won a gold medal as head coach of her team; and coach Ngo Quang Truong has a chance to win a gold medal in men's football with SLNA in his first time as head coach of the Nghe An team…

Dai Nghia