Asian Games

Việt Nam will send a delegation of 504 members to the Asian Games in September in China. Photo of SEA Games group

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will send a 504-strong contingent to compete in the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD) next month in China.

The Sports Authority of Việt Nam announced the final list of the delegation on August 31. They include 337 athletes, 90 coaches, 11 foreign experts, 12 doctors, officials and other staff.

They are led by Chief-de-mission Đặng Hà Việt, SAV director, who is assisted by two deputies Hoàng Quốc Vinh and Ngô Ích Quân.

The Vietnamese athletes will compete in 31 of 40 sports -- 61 disciplines and 482 events -- to be held in Hangzhou Province which will host more than 12,527 competitors from 45 countries and territories of Asia.

Along with the squad which participate in the Games by the State expense, the e-sport, soft tennis and dance sport teams travel to China by socialised funds.

Athletes will leave for China based on their competition schedule but the main team will depart on September 20. Swimmer Numen Hay Hang will take the honour carrying the national flag at the opening ceremony.

Viet Nam are targeting up to five gold medals, as many as in the previous Games in 2018, It is a tough task as the team faced many challenges before and during preparations.

Long jumper Bùi Thị Thu Thảo will defend her title at the 19th ASIAD.

Defending long jump champion Bùi Thị Thu Thảo has not recovered from injury, leading to her poor performance and she is also five years older than when she previously took the top podium. In her latest competition at the Asian championship in mid-July, she jumped 6.22m to place at eighth position. Earlier, the former Asian champion could only reach 6.13m to finish second at the 32nd SEA Games in May.

The results were much lower than her national record of 6.68m that she set at the 29th SEA Games in 2017 in Malaysia. At the previous ASIAD, Thảo jumped 6.55m.

The women’s rowing team have no chance to defend their lightweight quadruple sculls 2000m title as their event is not organised this year. It is the same with the pencak silat team which earned two golds in the men's U75kg and U95kg combat categories.

Runner Quách Thị Lan was pushed to the top podium in the women's 400m hurdles after a gold of Kemi Adekoya of Bahrain was stripped off because of doping.

Unfortunately, Lan is currently also banned because of illegal drug use. She will not take part in the Hangzhou Games.

Việt Nam's gold-medal potential sports include shooting, xiangqi, sepak takraw (rattan ball kicking), karate, cycling, weightlifting and archery with many remarkable achievements during their international competitions recently.

The opening ceremony will be held on September 23 but several sports such as football, basketball and volleyball will be held days earlier. The closing ceremony is planned for October 8. VNS