HCMC - Vietnam hopes to improve on its performance at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China, by winning between four and six gold medals to finish in the top 15 out of 45 participating countries and territories.
The Vietnamese sporting delegation, which finished 19th at the 2006 Games in Doha with three gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals, aims to win multiple golds in shooting, sepak takraw, karate, taekwondo, chess and Chinese chess in November.
Vietnam wants gold in Chinese chess and taekwondo events. Chinese-chess player Ngo Lan Huong, who was the 2009 world runner-up, is eyeing top spot while Nguyen Dinh Toan and Nguyen Minh Tu are capable of victory in taekwondo.
Toan and Tu are definite contenders after securing a gold medal in the pairs event in the performance category at the World Taekwondo Federation Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last week. Nguyen Thi Thu Ngan, Nguyen Thi Le Kim and Chau Van Tuyet brought home the second gold medal from Uzbekistan in the women’s first team division.
Vietnam is expected to do well in the track and field events with several gold possibilities - sprinter Vu Thi Huong (women’s 100m and 200m), Asian Grand Prix winner Truong Thanh Hang (women’s 800m and 1,500m), Southeast Asian Games record holder Vu Van Huyen (men’s decathlon) and two-times Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Nguyen Dinh Cuong (men’s 800m and 1,500m).
Around 260 local athletes will participate in Asia’s biggest sporting event, Nov.12-27. The team for the games will compete in 29 of the 42 events.
Meanwhile, local football fans didn’t trust their squad’s ability to get past the group stages after both men and women teams had unlucky draws.
The men’s U23 team drew Group B along with three of Western Asia’s strongest teams: Iran, Bahrain and Turkmenistan while the women’s team drew Group A with hosts China, South Korea and Jordan, possibly the three strongest teams in Asia.
The men’s group matches will be played from November 7 to 25, while the women will play November 14-23.
This ASIAD will have 476 events in 42 sports, making it the largest event in history of the Games. ASIAD is a multi-sport event held every four years with teams from all over Asia
Vietnam began participating in Asia’s biggest sport event at the Seoul games in 1986. In 1994 at the Hiroshima Asian Games in Japan, taekwondo artist Tran Quang Ha won the country’s first gold medal, while Pham Hong Ha and Tran Van Thong brought home two silver medals.
At the 14th Asian Games in Busan, South Korea in 2002, the country had their best showing after winning four gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals. Vietnam finish 15th at the event.
