Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam (right) and other delegates at the opening ceremony of the ninth National Sports Games in Hạ Long City, Quảng Ninh Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Kiên

HẠ LONG — The opening ceremony of the ninth National Sports Games took place in Hạ Long City, Quảng Ninh Province on Friday evening.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyễn Văn Hùng and representatives of provinces and cities across the country attended the event.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister Hùng emphasised that Quảng Ninh Province and localities participating in the organisation of the Games had prepared the facilities and logistics for the event which would promote the role and effects of sports in the cause of national construction and defence.

“This is an opportunity to comprehensively evaluate the results of the development of the sports career, set new records, and serve as a premise to build a plan to develop sports career in the coming period,” Hùng said.

Cao Tường Huy, acting chairman of Quảng Ninh Provincial People's Committee, said that the locality had experience in organising many large-scale cultural and sports events, especially successfully hosting seven sports in the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May. The province always paid attention to developing culture and people.

“Quảng Ninh has made a breakthrough in mobilising investment resources to complete modern and synchronous cultural and sports institutions, meeting national and international competition standards with outstanding works such as Quảng Ninh Sports Complex, 5,000-seat multi-purpose gymnasium and Cẩm Phả Stadium. The province's sports movement is widely developed. The percentage of population who practise physical exercise and sports increased from 29 per cent in 2015 to over 40 per cent in 2022. Elite sports develop and grow. Quảng Ninh is in the top 10 out of 63 provinces and cities in the country for elite sports,” Huy said.

The torch is lit at the opening ceremony will burn until the end of the Games. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Kiên

The event’s opening ceremony left a deep impression on the audience with the transmission of the sacred flame of the Games taken from the Hồ Chí Minh Museum and performed by nine outstanding athletes who are representatives of the talents of Vietnamese sports from all over the country.

Along with that was a spectacular parade of 65 teams and three special art chapters entitled: Việt Nam Khát vọng (Việt Nam Aspiration); Hội Tụ và Lan Tỏa (Convergence and Spreading) and Vì Một Việt Nam Cường Thịnh (For a Strong and Prosperous Việt Nam).

The art performances focused on depicting the people of Quảng Ninh who are dynamic, creative, generous, civilised and friendly.

This year’s event is the largest sports event in the history of the National Sports Games with more than 17,000 officials, coaches, athletes, referees, service staff of 65 sports delegations.

At the Games, athletes will compete for 933 sets of medals in 43 sports.

The ninth National Sports Games officially started in Hạ Long City, Quảng Ninh Province on Friday evening. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Kiên

The ninth Games take place mainly in Quảng Ninh and 10 neighbouring provinces and cities, including Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Hải Dương, Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang, Hòa Bình, Vĩnh Phúc, Ninh Bình, Nam Định and Thanh Hóa. This is the largest sporting event of Vietnamese sports held every four years.

Before the opening ceremony, 13 sports were held early including rowing, wrestling, football, shooting, karate, volleyball, basketball and billiards- snooker, pencak silat, diving and handball. VNS