After finishing the 2016 season with many important landmarks, Vietnam's sports in general and Khanh Hoa's sports in particular enter 2017 with new targets to hit.
After finishing the 2016 season with many important landmarks, Vietnam’s sports in general and Khanh Hoa’s sports in particular enter 2017 with new targets to hit.
Landmarks in 2016
In the year of 2016, Vietnam’s sports won numerous impressive achievements which helped to promote it to a new level in the international playgrounds. Specifically, pistol shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh won Vietnam the first ever Olympic title with a gold medal in men’s 10m air pistol. The next marvelous achievement of Vietnam’s sports came from powerlifter Dang Van Cong who topped the podium of Paralympics 2016 thanks to the gold in men’s up to 49kg. With four Paralympics medals (one gold, one silver and two bronzes), 2016 was a successful year of Vietnamese athletes with disabilities.
Last year also saw important progresses of Vietnam’s football and futsal in the international tournaments. Vietnam’s futsal team overcame many strong teams from other Asian countries to enter for the final round of the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Meanwhile, U19 Vietnam football team performed excellently at the finals of AFC U19 Championship and became one of the qualified teams for a FIFA World Cup for the first time ever. Head Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and the whole team of Vietnam have been striving to be able to pass the qualifying round of the U.20 FIFA World Cup 2017, which will take place in South Korea in May.
Khanh Hoa’s football also proved its stable development with good results in 2016 season. All four young teams reached the finals of the tournaments in which they took part. In the domestic beach football and indoor football, the teams of Khanh Hoa have still maintained their position among the strongest teams. Sanest Khanh Hoa volleyball team includes most of the excellent athletes in Vietnam. Therefore, the silver medal at the 2016 National Volleyball Championship was considered as a failure of the team. Khanh Hoa’s young volleyball team has been the record holder with three consecutive championships at the national tournament.
According to the provincial Sports Technique Training Center, in 2016, with 218 sets of medals at 66 tournaments, Khanh Hoa’s sports department gained achievements which exceeded the expectations.
New targets
2017 offers many opportunities for Vietnam’s sports to prove it progress. The sports teams of Vietnam will join SEA Games, Para Games, Asian Winter Games (Japan), third Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Turkmenistan), Asian Youth Games, second Asian Youth Para Games, U.20 FIFA World Cup, third preliminary round of Asian Cup 2019 and so on.
The 29th SEA Games held in Malaysia seems to be the focus of Vietnam’s sports at present. Vietnam targets top 3 berths in the Southeast Asia. Besides, to many Vietnamese athletes, especially young talent, the 29th SEA Games is considered as a jumping-off point for the larger-scaled tournaments, such as ASIAD 2018 and Olympic 2020.
In case of Khanh Hoa’s sports, the national volleyball championship title is not only the target but also a task which Coach Trieu Tu Thien and his players have to fulfill. The other targets of Khanh Hoa’s sports in 2017 are taking part in 70 national and international tournaments and attaining around 200 medal sets.
H.D
Translated by H.N
