Vietnamese taewondo athletes must pay out of pocket to participate in world tournaments

The departure date for the world tournament is approaching, but Vietnamese taewondo athletes do not have enough funds to attend.

The Ho Chi Minh City team is the core of the Vietnamese taewondo team preparing for the 29th SEA Games as well as the 2019 World Championship, led by coach Nguyen Thanh Huy. In the preparation plan, the team registered to participate in the 1st World Taewondo Beach Championship - 2017 in Rhodes (Greece). However, close to the opening time of the tournament (May 5), the team has not been given enough funding to participate (about 1 to 1.2 billion).

“From the beginning of the year, this tournament was in the plan and Ho Chi Minh City committed to sending a team. Because this is our long-term preparation plan for the SEA Games, the World Beach Games, the World Championships and the Olympic selection rounds... But, currently the students are not given funding to participate in the tournament,” said coach Nguyen Thanh Huy.

“The High Performance Sports Department of the HCM City Department of Culture and Sports announced that the team would only be supported with visa fees, tournament participation fees and insurance costs totaling about $200. Meanwhile, the cost for an athlete to participate in the tournament is about more than $2,000. Therefore, my team and I are stuck in our plans even though we have registered to participate and book hotels with the Organizing Committee.”

Performance taewondo has brought Vietnam many achievements in the world and on the continent.

According to coach Nguyen Thanh Huy's explanation, the problem lies in the fact that the high-performance sports department, directly led by Mr. Tran Quang Ha (deputy head of the department), had given wrong advice and reports to the Department's Board of Directors, so the team's budget was not approved.

“I brought the youth team to compete in Kazakhstan and received a notice that there was no funding as planned at the beginning of the year. In Mr. Ha's report, the World Beach Championship was listed as a festival, so Director Bam found it unreasonable and did not agree to provide funding even though this tournament had been held before.Satisfied"It's in the plan," Mr. Huy said. "Previously, Ho Chi Minh City also sent athletes to open tournaments to practice, not just this tournament."

Asked about the above issue, Mr. Tran Quang Ha refused to answer. "Regarding the funding issue, the new leaders will answer, but I have not been authorized so I cannot say anything more."

With such problems, the taewondo athletes no longer have a chance to compete. “In the past few days, the students cried a lot when they heard the news. Because this is the last tournament to prepare for the SEA Games. We want to participate but with a budget of more than 2,000 USD for each athlete, no family is willing to pay for such an unreasonable problem,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Huy added.

According to VNE