HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam sports delegation members are ready to compete in the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held October 6-18 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Việt Nam will have 13 athletes at the Games, playing in seven sports including badminton, gymnastics, taekwondo, dance sport, weightlifting, swimming and athletics.

According to Trần Đức Phấn, Deputy Director General of Việt Nam Sports Administration, Việt Nam aim to earn at least one gold at the upcoming event, focusing on swimming, weightlifting and taekwondo.

The golden hopes are taekwondo martial artist Hồ Thị Kim Ngân, who won the gold medal at the World Youth Taekwondo Championship in the women’s U-49kg and swimmer Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, who won the silver medal at the recent Asian Games in Indonesia in the men’s 1,500m.

Việt Nam have taken part in two YOG events in 2010 and 2014

At the YOG in 2010, the team bagged one gold thanks to weightlifter Thạch Kim Tuấn in the men’s 56kg, one silver in taekwondo and two bronzes in taekwondo and badminton.

At the YOG in 2010, swimmer Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên won a gold medal and weightlifter Nguyễn Trần Anh Tuấn brought home one more silver.

Việt Nam will leave for Argentina on October 2.

The YOG are an elite multi-sport international event for the world’s best young athletes between the ages of 15 to 18. Buenos Aires 2018 will mark the first time that an Olympic event has had an equal number of women and men athletes. There will be 1,999 women and 1,999 men competing in the 32 sports.

The Games will truly be a celebration of sport throughout the city. Across four different parks there will be: 286 competition sessions, 468 sport initiation sessions, cultural and educational activities for the general public and athletes, 241 medal events, 1,250 medals distributed and more than 300 hours of live competition broadcast. — VNS