The 7th National Sports Congress 2014: "Strong people - prosperous country"

(Baonghean) - At exactly 8:00 p.m. on December 6, the opening ceremony of the 7th National Sports Festival 2014 took place at Thien Truong Stadium (Nam Dinh City). This is an important event, marking the beginning of the Festival, and is eagerly awaited by many people. The ceremony took place with a concert program, a special art program with many elaborately staged music and dance performances, a military parade, a march, and fireworks to celebrate...

Panorama of the opening ceremony of the congress.

Before the opening ceremony of the 7th National Sports Festival 2014, Nam Dinh City was more brilliant with the red color of flags, streamers, banners, and slogans hanging all over the streets. The traffic island area of ​​Highway 10 - Dong A Street, the area of ​​the Monument of General Tran Quoc Tuan, the area in front of Thien Truong Stadium - where the opening ceremony took place, the Provincial Sports Palace... were decorated, decorated with flowers, arranged with many flower pots, ornamental plants, and decorative lights, contributing to beautifying the city and making it more sparkling during the festival.

At the opening ceremony, the Art Program to welcome the 7th National Sports Festival in 2014 with the theme "Strong people - prosperous country" included act 1 "Harmonious land song"; act 2 "My hometown river"; act 3 "Thanh Nam's heroic spirit"; act 4 "Rhythm of time" and act 5 "Resonance" performed by 1,600 actors, musicians from Central and Nam Dinh art troupes, students, and pupils, highlighting the cultural traditions, sports, people, and homeland of Nam Dinh which is on the way of development, the growth of Vietnamese sports in recent years, which is the driving force to help people become healthier and the country develop more and more as taught by President Ho Chi Minh.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism declared the opening of the National Sports Festival. Photo: DT

In preparation for this congress, in terms of facilities, Nam Dinh has completed and put into use new constructions such as Nam Dinh Sports Palace (including a multi-purpose gymnasium and a covered swimming pool) and Nam Dinh Construction College's multi-purpose gymnasium; renovated, repaired, and upgraded 7 works (5 gymnasiums in the center of Nam Dinh City, 1 gymnasium in Hai Hau district, 1 gymnasium in Giao Thuy district) to organize competitions. In addition, Nam Dinh has arranged 7 more training locations (Cotokin football field, University of Industrial Technology Gymnasium, Pedagogical College Gymnasium, Athletes Training Center Football Field, Cau Gianh Industrial College Gymnasium, Tran Khanh Du Swimming Pool, gym) to serve the training of the athletes before and during the competition at the congress. This congress has 7,493 athletes (4,278 men and 3,215 women), 1,795 referees, 1,674 officials and coaches from 63 provinces and cities and the two branches of the Public Security and the Army competing in 36 events (45 sub-events). Over 4,250 athletes, coaches, officials and referees participated in the competitions in Nam Dinh province, including 2,728 athletes (1,616 men, 1,112 women); 759 coaches; 109 officials, 654 referees.

Before the opening ceremony, in the past few days, a number of sports have taken place in Nam Dinh such as: Vovinam, Pencak Silat, Bodybuilding... The most common impression in the places where these competitions are held is the enthusiastic cheering of the local people of Nam Dinh province. Along with Nam Dinh, in Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Thai Binh also simultaneously organized sports in the National Sports Festival program. Specifically, in Hanoi, Shuttlecock kicking will take place at Cau Giay District Gymnasium (from December 2-15); in Quang Ninh, chess and Chinese chess will take place (from December 1-15); wrestling (24/11-4/12) in Thai Binh... After the opening ceremony, a series of events within the framework of the congress will be held simultaneously such as: Fencing (December 7-12, in Hai Duong); rowing (December 7-15), archery (December 5-15), billiard snooker (December 6-15), in Hai Phong; volleyball (December 7-15), badminton (December 4-20), gymnastics (December 5-9), handball (December 7-15), sepak takraw (December 5-15), in Hanoi...

The organizers presented a souvenir flag to the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team.

Participating in this congress, Nghe An sports delegation has 173 athletes, 35 coaches, competing in 14 events: Football, athletics, weightlifting, taekwondo, karate, wrestling, shuttlecock, rattan ball, petanque..., with promising athletes 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 (shuttleball)... In particular, SLNA Club will participate in football under the leadership of new coach Ngo Quang Truong, with the determination to win the gold medal of the congress. Before the departure date, the target set by Nghe An sports delegation participating in this congress was to reach 15th - 13th place overall, expected to win 17 gold medals, 17 silver medals, 45 bronze medals.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tam - Director of Nghe An Sports Training Center who is present at the Congress said: "In the past few days, in the competitions before the opening day, Nghe An athletes have competed excellently and won 5 gold medals (2 gold medals in petanque, 2 gold medals in sepak takraw, and 1 gold medal in vovinam), 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. With those efforts, we hope that Nghe An athletes will gain more achievements and exceed the set target".

With the careful preparation of the host Nam Dinh and the determination of the participating delegations, the 7th National Sports Congress in 2014 will be a demonstration of the strength of coaches, athletes, and referees of high-performance sports nationwide. The results of the congress will also be the basis for assessing the level of development of high-performance sports nationwide, as well as of each locality and industry in the period 2010 - 2014, as a premise for building a plan to develop high-performance sports in the period 2014 - 2018.

Duc Dung