Athletics

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has sent a team of three athletes to participate in the eighth Asian Indoor Athletics Championship, which will kick off at Aftab-e Enqhelab Stadium in Tehran, Iran, today.

Asian champion Bùi Thị Thu Thảo is anticipated to win in the women’s long jump event.

Thảo’s best result was 6.68m at last year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia, where she won gold.

She was also the defending runner-up in the previous tournament in Qatar, where she won a silver.

In the latest tournament of the Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts last September in Turkmenistan, Thảo claimed a silver with a long jump of 6.36m.

“This tournament is not my top priority as I am currently not at my peak. But I will try my best as usual,” said Thảo, who is focusing on the Asian Games to be held in Indonesia in August.

Thảo is Việt Nam’s bright hope in Indonesia, where she is expected to win gold.

The second athlete is two-times SEA Games champion Nguyễn Thị Oanh.

Oanh surprised people at the Kuala Lumpur Games when she beat defending champion Triyaningsih of Indonesia to clinch her first-ever women’s 5,000m title (17min 23.20sec) before going on to win in the 1,500m (4min 20.51sec).

In the tournament in Iran, Oanh will run in the 1,500m and 3,000m categories.

The only male athlete in the team, Nguyễn Tiến Trọng, will compete in the long jump pool. He had won a gold at the Ashgabat event (in 2017) with a result of 7.48m.

The indoor athletics event is considered a qualification for the World Indoor Championships, which will be held at Birmingham, England, in March.

Many Asian champions and powerhouses such as high jumper Mutaz Issa Barshim of Qatar, Indian shotput thrower Tajinder Singh Toor and pole vault competitor Mohammad Bani-Adam of Iran have registered for the event in Tehran. — VNS