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Making a splash: Swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc is among the several Vietnamese competitors making their debut at Asia's biggest sports event, the Asian Games, in Guangzhou, China next month. — File Photo |
Swimmers Phuoc and Tuyen, two of Viet Nam's top swimmers, have been training in China in preparation for the biggest sporting event in Asia.
Prodigy Phuoc,17, from Da Nang has sustained the form that helped him win a 100m butterfly bronze medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Laos last year with a time of 55.65sec.
"Phuoc has rapidly perfected his skills in training. He has knocked his personal best time down to 54.71sec in his favourite 100m butterfly event," said Nguyen Dang Ha, who coaches Phuoc at the national sports camp No 3 in Da Nang.
"However, the Asian Games will be tough for Phuoc as he will face top stars from China, Japan and South Korea. I believe he will give a lifetime best performance at the Guangzhou Asian Games," Ha added.
The Da Nang-born swimmer has an arm span of 1.98m, which helps him move quickly through the water.
Meanwhile, Tuyen, 16, from HCM City also triumphed in the national championships last year bagging 10 gold medals and breaking eight records.
"She is one of Viet Nam's most talented swimmers. She wins gold almost every time she gets into the water at the national championships. Tuyen is capable of competing in the freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and medley relay," said the general secretary of the Viet Nam Aquatic Sport Association, Dinh Viet Hung.
"But Tuyen needs more competitions and tests before the Asian Games. A lack of big games experience against strong opposition is her Achilles' heel but I hope she overcomes that at the Games that start in two weeks time," Hung said.
The swimming events, with 38 medal sets up for grabs, will be held from November 13-18.
Nguyen Hoang Thien, 15, recently won two International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior single's titles in a fortnight.
Thien triumphed in the boy's singles at the International Junior Championships in southern Bac Lieu Province, just a week before cruising to victory at the Viet Nam International Junior Championships in Binh Duong.
He has climbed from 497th in the ITF junior rankings to 338th since last year, and he's looking to break into the top 200 in the world by the time he's 18.
"It's the first time he has been called to the national team to compete at the Asian Games, but I'm not worried because he has already experienced numerous international competitions," said Thien's father, Nguyen Hoang Minh.
"He still has his eye on ITF tournaments to boost his world ranking, which hopefully will enable him to compete at a Grand Slam someday," Minh said.
Thien is expected to play one more tournament before flying to Guangzhou.
The tennis event will take place from November 13-23.
Viet Nam announced its 260-member squad ago to compete in 29 of the 42 events at the 16th festival from November 12-27. Viet Nam hopes to finish in the top 15 out of the 45 participating countries and territories. — VNS
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