Most Outstanding Athletes 2010 selected

Japan's Momoko Takahashi (R), Vietnam's Vu Thi Huong (C) and Uzbekistan's Guzel Khubbieva run their women's 100m final at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, Guangdong province last month - Photo: Reuters

HCMC - Track-and-field athlete Vu Thi Huong, the “Queen of Speed” in Southeast Asia, has been selected the Best Athlete of 2010 followed by her teammate Truong Thanh Hang and Asian Games gold medalist Le Bich Phuong.

Vietnamese track-and-field athletes showed some excellent performances at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China last month, taking home three silvers and two bronzes. Huong, along with fellow runners Truong Thanh Hang and Vu Van Huyen, were all nominated for Vietnam’s top 10 outstanding athletes.

Vu Thi Huong from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, who won Best Athlete of 2009, secured the second consecutive title by making history for Vietnam athletics at ASIAD by winning Vietnam’s first ever medal at the games - a bronze medal in the women’s 100m event. She also won a silver in the 200m race.

Huong beat Hang to the title as she picked up 1,213 points, while Hang, who grasped two silver medals in the ASIAD in the women’s 800m and 1500m events, came second with 1,208 points.

Though athlete Le Bich Phuong won the only gold medal for Vietnam at ASIAD in the women’s karate 55kg category, she came third with 1,047 points.

The other winners in the top 10 were the world’s number seven badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh (631 points), track and field athlete Vu Van Huyen (582 points), chess player Le Quang Liem (558 points), weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan (331 points), shooter Ha Minh Thanh (274 points), wrestler Le Thi Lua (257 points), and swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc (218).

For contributing to the track and field team’s great victory last year, coach Ho Thi Tu Tam from Danang Sports Training Center was voted Coach of the Year 2010 with 463 points, beating Karate head coach Le Cong from the Army team and track and field coach Nguyen Dinh Minh from HCMC, who won second and third places with 395 and 376 points respectively

Meanwhile, shooting coach Nguyen Thi Nhung from the General Department of Sports and Physical Training earned fourth position with 167 points, followed by chess coach Lam Minh Chau from HCMC with 138 points.

Swimmer Vo Thanh Tung from HCMC, who won a gold and a silver at the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China, won the best para-athlete award with 550 points, while badminton coach Le Thuy Ha received the nomination for most outstanding coach for disabled athletes in the vote by journalists and sports experts with 332 points. 

Hundreds of sports experts and journalists from Hanoi, HCMC and Danang voted over the weekend for the top 10 athletes, top five coaches, top five para-athletes and top three para-athletes’ coaches.

The annual vote was organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Fund for Supporting Young Talent and The Thao Viet Nam (Vietnam Sports) newspaper.

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Viet Nam target track and field glory

HA NOI — Vietnamese track and field athletes could seriously consider winning gold medals at the next Asian Games, according to coach Nguyen Dinh Minh.

"After ASIAD silver and bronze medals, I think that Viet Nam's track and field athletes can now target golds. Before (the ASIAD) it was a crazy thought but now we are close," said Minh, who coached Southeast Asian sprint queen Vu Thi Huong to 100m bronze and 200m silver medals last month.

Viet Nam also pocketed silvers in the women's 800m and 1,500m and a bronze in the men's decathlon.

These achievements were not thought possible when the team departed for the Guangzhou games. All the athletes wanted was to try their best to win Viet Nam's first ever track and field medal at the games.

"My athletes went to ASIAD having not had the best preparations so both coaches and athletes were under pressure, hoping to win an elusive medal. The runners had to really push themselves to improve in each round," Minh said.

"Viet Nam is starting to become competitive at the regional level where we have had some success, but we are still a long way from being able to make an impact at international competitions. If we receive good support and make plans, some of our athletes will have a chance to not only win an ASIAD gold but also to compete on the world stage," he confirmed.

Le Quy Phuong, head of Viet Nam's sport delegation at the Asian Games said: "The 16th ASIAD was a turning point for Vietnamese track and field. It proves being small does not mean we can't be successful. It's about selecting talented athletes and providing them with good training and support."

However, officials also said athletes should not be satisfied with their achievements, even though they had made the country proud.

"They (Vu Thi Huong, Truong Thanh Hang and Vu Van Huyen) are the golden generation of Viet Nam and they have shined at Asian and Southeast Asian competitions in recent years. The next generation of athletes are not currently strong enough to continue that success in the future," said Duong Duc Thuy, head of the Track and Field Department of the National Sports Administration.

He said the department planned to support elite athletes who would receive intensive training with a view to raising their competitiveness ahead of the London Olympics in 2012. — VNS

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Viet Nam target ASIAD golds

HA NOI – Vietnamese track and field athletes can seriously consider winning gold medals at the next Asian Games, according to coach Nguyen Dinh Minh.

"After ASIAD silvers and bronzes, I think that Viet Nam's track and field athletes can now target golds. Before (the ASIAD) it was a crazy thought but now we are close and in other words we could have 'touched' it," said Minh, who coached Southeast Asian sprint queen Vu Thi Huong to 100m bronze and 200m silver medals last month.

Viet Nam also pocketed silvers in the women's 800m and 1,500m and a bronze in the men's decathlon.

These achievements were not thought of when the team departed for the Guangzhou games. All the athletes wanted was to try their best to win Viet Nam's first ever track and field medal at the games.

"My athletes went to ASIAD having not had the best preparations so both coaches and athletes were under pressure, hoping to win an elusive medal. The runners had to try harder every round for their best result," Minh said.

"Viet Nam is starting to become competitive at the Asian level where we have had some success, but it is still along way from being able to make an impact at world competitions. If we receive good support and make plans, some of our athletes will have a chance to not only win an ASIAD gold but also compete on the world stage," he confirmed. – VNS

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Vietnam finishes ASIAD short of medal target

HCMC - The Vietnamese ASIAD team fell well short of their medal expectations at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) with only one gold of the six they’d hoped for.

Le Bich Phuong snagged the gold medal in the karate event. The team returns with 17 silvers and 15 bronzes, ranking them 24th - the second worst placing since Vietnam returned to Asia’s biggest sporting games in 1982. This year the team had aimed at 20th position.

Vietnam’s worst performance was at ASIAD 1990 in Beijing, China, when it did not win any medals.

The 33 medals were in shooting, athletics, rowing, wrestling, chess, Chinese chess, sepaktakraw, billiards, and martial arts events.

The karate entrant, Phuong, topped the team as the only gold medal holder, followed by sprinter Vu Thi Huong and medium-distance runner Truong Thanh Hang, each having two medals in track and field events.

Phuong defeated Kobayashi Miki from Japan in the women’s kumite final. Phuong surprisingly defeated world defending champion Miki 4-3 in the women’s 55kg category.  

The Vietnamese track and field team ended a medal drought at the Games when they took home three silvers and two bronzes. Previously, Vietnam had never won a track and field medal at ASIAD.

Vu Thi Huong opened the new chapter for Vietnam’s athletics at ASIAD with a bronze medal in the women’s 100m event as she was clocked in 11’’43 behind Asian champion Fukushima Chisato from Japan with 11’’33 and Khubbieva Guzel from Uzbekistan with 11’’34.

Three days later, Huong earned the silver in the women’s 200m category with 23.74 seconds just behind Takahashi Momoko from Japan, who took the gold with 23.62 seconds.

Truong Thanh Hang as Southeast Asian defending champion took home two silvers. Hang came second in the final round of the women’s 800m with 2:00.91 minutes, breaking the SEA Games record. Earlier, Hang also won the silver in the women’s 1500m category.

Meanwhile, Vu Van Huyen also brought home the bronze in the men’s decathlon event after overcoming many strong opponents from Japan and China. Huyen finished third with 7,755 points taking the bronze in the event. Karpov Dmitriy from Kazakhstan, who held the Asian decathlon record, won the gold, collecting 8,026 points followed by Kim Kun Woo from South Korea with 7,808 points.

The rowing and wrestling teams also surprised with medals.

Rowing took two silver medals in the women’s double scull and lightweight quadruple scull events, with four of six rowers making their debut in the continental games while the wrestling team also won its first medal at ASIAD when 19-year-old Nguyen Thi Lua won a silver medal in the women’s 48kg freestyle event.

Vietnamese wushu fell short of their expected medal tally with five silvers and four bronzes but still held the most medals of the team.

The Vietnamese delegation had 261 athletes competing in 29 of the 42 sports at the Games.

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 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in 2006, the country finished 19th with three gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals. Briefly

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Athletes capture twin golds at Malaysia Open

Vietnamese track and field athletes returned home from the Malaysia Open on the weekend with two gold and one silver medals.

Regional sprint queen Vu Thi Huong, who won the first semi-final, went
on to take the title of the women's 100m event in a time of 11.55sec.
Her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong, who won the second semi-final, pocketed the
silver in 11.79 sec.

They both later participated in the women's 4x100m relay, which Vietnam easily won in a time of 45.06sec.

Coach Nguyen Dinh Minh said he was pleased with the team's
achievements, even though they had performed better at other
tournaments.

"They performed well and achieved some
good results at the [ Malaysia ] Open. What I regretted most however
is that the competition attracted only Southeast Asian athletes, so we
were not able to test ourselves against the best in the region," Minh
said.

He added that he was not disappointed that Huong
did not get closer to her best time of 11.34, which she achieved when
winning the SEA Games title. He said there were still three weeks to go
to the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD), when he said he believed Huong would be
at her peak.

At the biggest sports event in the
region, Vietnamese athletes will compete in the women's 200m, 800m,
1,500m, 400m hurdle and 4x400m relay; while the men will take part in
the 800m, 1,500m, long jump, triple jump and decathlon.

The track and field events start on November 21, with the finals
taking place six days later at the Aoti Stadium in Guangzhou ./.

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Athletes capture twin golds at Malaysia Open

Home in a flash: Vu Thi Huong wins a gold medal in the women's 100m sprint at the Malaysia Open. She then added another gold in the team 4x100m relay. Huong is one of favourites among Vietnamese in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on November 12-27. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HA NOI — Vietnamese track and field athletes returned home from the Malaysia Open on the weekend with two gold and one silver medals.

Regional sprint queen Vu Thi Huong, who won the first semi-final, went on to take the title of the women's 100m event in a time of 11.55sec. Her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong, who won the second semi-final, pocketed the silver in 11.79 sec.

They both later participated in the women's 4x100m relay, which Viet Nam easily won in a time of 45.06sec.

Coach Nguyen Dinh Minh said he was pleased with the team's achievements, even though they had performed better at other tournaments.

"They performed well and achieved some good results at the [Malaysia] Open. What I regretted most however is that the competition attracted only Southeast Asian athletes, so we were not able to test ourselves against the best in the region," Minh said.

He added that he was not disappointed that Huong did not get closer to her best time of 11.34, which she achieved when winning the SEA Games title. He said there were still three weeks to go to the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD), when he said he believed Huong would be at her peak.

At the biggest sports event in the region, Vietnamese athletes will compete in the women's 200m, 800m, 1,500m, 400m hurdle and 4x400m relay; while the men will take part in the 800m, 1,500m, long jump, triple jump and decathlon.

The track and field events start on November 21, with the finals taking place six days later at the Aoti Stadium in Guangzhou. — VNS

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