Mai
Ba Hung, deputy director of the city's Department of Cultural, Sports
and Tourism, said the sports include taekwondo, judo, volleyball,
athletics, bicycle, table tennis, tennis, badminton and football.
Although these sports are popular, they have not been developed adequately, Hung said.
The
city will also focus on enhancing Olympic sports like weight-lifting
and gymnastics, as well as athletics, male volleyball, martial arts,
tennis and badminton.
In addition, the HCM City Football Club
said it will further invest in football, although the club is faced with
a shortage of finances.
The department has also asked Thong Nhat
Stadium to offer training programmes for young footballers to develop a
long-term pool of players for football.
Hung, who is upbeat about the sport, said: "I think city football will see further progress this year."
Other sports like table tennis, cycling and tennis will also receive more funds from various sources.
The city will also work with the sports federation to send athletes abroad for professional training, according to Hung.
Officials
said the city was considering plans to build the Rach Chiec Sport
Centre and the HCM City Sport Centre, the latter expected to be located
near the Phu Tho racetrack.
HCM City is also preparing necessary documents to ask for the right to host the SEA Games in 2015, 2017 or 2019.
For
long-term planning, the department will select athletes with the most
potential and train them into professional athletes. It is also working
with many sport centres to invest in other sports with potential,
especially beach volleyball.
The number of city residents who
play sports has been increasing, accounting for up to 25 percent of the
city's population until October last year, according to city
authorities.
In 2010, the city held a total of nearly 800 amateur sport competitions./.
