The 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Congress in 2022: Many innovations and creativity

This congress will compete in 18 sports, of which 12 have been organized and completed on August 5, 2022. On August 13, the opening ceremony of the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022 will officially take place in Vinh city. Up to this point, all preparations have been completed by the Organizing Committee according to plan.

Before the opening ceremony of the congress, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports to know more about the congress.Nghe An Provincial Sports Congress9th time in 2022.

The football final match between Vinh city and Dien Chau at the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022. Photo: Duc Anh

Reporter: Can you tell us the goals and greatest significance that the Sports Congress at all levels brings?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:The basic, long-term goal of physical education and sports is to form a developed and progressive physical education and sports foundation, contributing to improving health and physical strength, meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of the people and striving to further develop the province's sports in the future, contributing to the overall development of Vietnamese sports.

This is also an opportunity to review all investment in physical education and sports activities, from the grassroots to the provincial level. Through the results of the congress, it will help the Nghe An Sports sector have an overview of physical education and sports activities in each locality. However, the greatest significance of the congress is still to propagate and mobilize people to continue exercising and improve their health to build and protect the Fatherland in accordance with the spirit of President Ho Chi Minh: "Preserving democracy, building the country, creating a new life. Everything needs health to be successful. Therefore, exercising and improving health is the duty of every patriotic citizen".

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports awarded the Silver Medal in Football to Dien Chau district as part of the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022. Photo: Duc Anh

Reporter: This congress from the grassroots to the district level has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. So can you tell us about the difficulties in organizing the congress?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:The 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival was affected by the epidemic. To ensure the progress of the festival, the Department of Culture and Sports directed localities to divide athletes into small groups for training. When the epidemic is under control, localities will proactively deploy. With a simple and concise organization, both ensuring safety against the epidemic and complying with the requirements of the festival, localities have completed the event on time. In addition, the movement of physical exercise and sports has been spread to a large number of people. Thereby, helping people to exercise and overcome the pandemic.

Also at that time, to ensure time for organizing the Provincial Sports Congress, Nghe An Sports Department carried out parallel organization of the events in the congress program and the organization of the grassroots sports congress.

In principle, the commune and district congresses must be completed before participating in the provincial congress. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the department has issued more flexible regulations. Although the district congress has not been completed, the provincial congress still organizes and completes 2 competitions, which are included in the congress program. With a creative approach, suitable to practical conditions, this congress was completed on schedule and still ensured professional requirements, as well as the core meaning that the congress brings.

Reporter: Through the 12 events that were organized before the Opening Ceremony of the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022, can you give a general assessment of the organization as well as the professional quality? What is the impression left?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:In this provincial congress, we have had a more creative approach, bringing 12 sports organized before the opening ceremony to 7 localities. This approach is of great significance in creating favorable conditions for districts, cities and towns to participate in the competition. On the other hand, it also creates a sports festival at the grassroots level, helping people enjoy exciting and attractive matches, bringing enthusiasm and spirit to a large audience.

It can be assessed that the localities assigned to host the event have all prepared carefully, thoughtfully and adequately. With the facilities guaranteed, the locations chosen to host the events at the event have provided the best conditions for athletes, meeting professional requirements, helping athletes achieve the expected results. It can be affirmed that the professional quality of athletes participating in this event has been improved significantly compared to previous events.

Although affected by the epidemic, many localities have prepared well to participate in the provincial congress. Through the competition process, they have demonstrated a very high level of competitiveness. In particular, in this congress, we have recorded the breakthrough of mountainous districts. They have prepared their forces very carefully, invested elaborately, and had strategies, so they have achieved outstanding medals in a number of events. For example, in shuttlecock kicking, Que Phong won 5/7 Gold Medals, far surpassing districts, cities and towns in the province. In Karate, Thanh Chuong is not a locality with a tradition in this event. However, they have invested from selecting athletes to organizing serious training. Therefore, Thanh Chuong has won up to 4 Gold Medals.

We highly appreciate the attitude of all localities, especially the mountainous districts, in participating in the congress. They not only prepared well in terms of human resources, but also had a strategy to invest in sports suitable to the strengths of the region and achieved outstanding results at this congress.

Karate in the program of the congress was held in Cua Lo town. Photo: Duc Anh

Reporter: There are 6 more events to be held after the opening ceremony. Up to this point, how has the Department of Culture and Sports prepared to bring about this?What is the best condition for the participating teams? Besides, what do we need to do to spread this congress to the masses, to see this as a sports festival in the whole province?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:The remaining 6 events will be held after the opening ceremony, and the Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports has made careful preparations. These 6 events will be arranged to compete within a short radius of each other, in order to create opportunities for delegations to exchange and combine their events. Specifically, swimming will be held at the swimming pool of the Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center; athletics will be held at Vinh Stadium; tug of war and badminton will be held at the Nghe An Provincial Sports and Gymnastics Gymnastics Center; chess will be held at the School for Gifted Sports; and crossbow shooting will be held at the Taekwondo gym - Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center. Previously, the Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports had inspected, reviewed, and evaluated the facilities of all venues where the events will take place. The places that have not met the standards have been fixed and repaired, and at this point all have met the best conditions to be able to organize competitions.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee has authorized the Department of Culture and Sports of Nghe An to coordinate with departments and branches to establish subcommittees such as: Security, health... To ensure absolute safety for delegations when staying in Vinh city.

At the same time, we have prepared very carefully by having the teams complete personnel records, hold professional meetings, and train referees, so that by August 13 everything will be completed and the teams will be able to confidently and proactively enter the competition with the best spirit.

After the opening ceremony, the events will compete continuously, until August 17 when the closing ceremony will take place.

The Organizing Committee awarded the Gold Medal in Volleyball in the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022 to Dien Chau team. Photo: Duc Anh

Reporter: Can you tell us about the opening program of the congress? What is the meaning of the program?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:The opening ceremony program includes 11 contents: Offering flowers, asking for traditional fire, Parade to show off forces, Lighting the Congress fire, Salute the flag, Announcement of reasons for introducing delegates, Opening speech, Reading Uncle Ho's call for physical exercise, Promise of athlete representatives, Oath of referees, Giving flowers and souvenir flags, Art performance program.

In which, the parade to show off the force includes 12 participating groups such as: National Flag Group, Olympic Flag Group, Uncle Ho's photo palanquin doing exercise, Congress photo palanquin; Red Flag Group; Military Sector Group, Police Group, Workers' Group...

The opening ceremony will include: Provincial Party Committee leaders lighting the Congress torch, Provincial People's Committee leaders reading the opening speech and President Ho Chi Minh's call for all people to exercise.

In particular, there was an art performance program with the theme: "Promoting tradition - Uniting to build a rich and beautiful Nghe An" with the participation of more than 1,000 students and nearly 100 excellent actors and athletes.

With elaborate, methodical, highly artistic investment, along with modern sound and lighting systems, all will contribute to creating an impression for the opening ceremony. Thereby, attracting a large number of people when watching the program.

The Volleyball final match is part of the 9th Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022. Photo: Duc Anh

Reporter: How important is this congress to the overall development of the province's sports in the future?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong:The Sports Festival is a major sports festival of political and social significance to promote the development of sports in Nghe An province. The festival will be an important cradle for the sports industry to find talented factors to add to the province's high-performance sports. It is also an opportunity to select outstanding athletes to participate in the National Sports Festival in 2022. In particular, this is a premise for Nghe An sports to build a longer-term strategy, in the process of developing the province's sports to be worthy of being a sports center of the region and the whole country.

Reporter: Thank you for this interview!

Duc Anh