The nation's most successful para-athlete with Lê Văn Công will join the Việt Nam Team at the 11th ASEAN Para Games in Indonesia on July 30-August 6. VNS Photo Nam Trung

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will send a contingent of 122 athletes to the 11th ASEAN Para Games in Surakarta, Indonesia, later this month.

As well as the athletes there will be 18 coaches, two doctors and 13 officials

The Games will feature 14 sports, of which Vietnamese athletes will be competing in athletics, powerlifting, swimming, badminton, table tennis, chess, judo and archery. Competitors in judo and archery join the ASEAN Para Games thanks to being sponsored by enterprises.

This is the first Games in a while after five years of cancellation. 

Among them are Tokyo Paralympic powerlifters Lê Văn Công and Châu Hoàng Tuyết Loan, and athletic stars Cao Ngọc Hùng and Nguyễn Thị Hải. 

Công won a silver at the Tokyo event last August and secured another silver at the World Para Powerlifting - Asia Oceania Open Championship in mid-June in South Korea.

Hùng took silver while his wife Hải pocketed two bronzes from the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, which closed on June 29 in Tunisia.

ASEAN Para Games' results count towards qualification for the Paris Paralympics in 2024. It is also an opportunity for the athletes to test their skills ahead of the fourth Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2023.

Vietnamese athletes are training hard in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and HCM City. 

A sending-off ceremony will be held on July 23 in HCM City. Athletes will leave for Surakarta three days later.

In the last ASEAN Para Games in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia topped the podium with 126 golds, followed by Malaysia (90) and Thailand (68).

Việt Nam with 142 athletes placed fourth grabbing, with 40 golds and setting 11 records. Athletics and swimming were the delegation's strongest sports. 

The ASEAN Para Games is a biannual multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities from 11 countries in Southeast Asia. The games are patterned after the Paralympics.

Originally the 11th edition was set to be hosted by Việt Nam in 2021, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country before the hosting right was transferred to Indonesia.

The Surakarta event was first scheduled from July 23 to 30. It was moved from July 30 to August 6.

Earlier, the 10th edition of the ASEAN Para Games was cancelled by the hosts the Philippines due to a lack of funding stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. VNS