HÀ NỘI — Swimmer Hoàng Quý Phước, the Southeast Asian Games 200m freestyle champion, will compete for Việt Nam at the Olympics in Brazil.

He is one of four Vietnamese men to reach the B standards of the International Swimming Federation.

According to the rules, Việt Nam has one wildcard for women and another for men.

Nguyễn Thị Anh Viên  Phước will also compete for Việt Nam in Brazil.

During his training in Hungary, Phước won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly event of the championship in April.

Phước is the 23rd Vietnamese Olympian bound for Rio de Janeiro. Việt Nam was only allowed to send 18 athletes to compete in the London Games four years ago.

In other news, rower Phạm Thị Thảo was disqualified from the Games because of injury. Thảo and her teammate, Tạ Thanh Huyền, were expected to represent Việt Nam in Brazil in the women’s lightweight double sculls event after they successfully bagged their slot in a qualification event in South Korea in April. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury during a recent training and will miss Brazil.

Hồ Thị Lý will replace Thảo.

On Tuesday the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism finalized a list of 50 athletes and officials, under deputy head of the National Sports Administration Trần Đức Phấn, to take part in the Summer Games.

23 athletes will compete in 10 sports.

Việt Nam did not win any gold medals in past Games but brought two silvers home - one in taekwondo from Sydney 2000, and one in weightlifting from Beijing 2008.

The Rio Olympics will open on August 5 and close 16 days later.

Organisers expect to welcome more than 10,500 participants from 206 countries and territories. Athletes will compete in 306 events and 28 sports. — VNS