Athletes compete at the Roller Sports Hà Nội Open held last November. Roller sports has become a member of the Skating Federation of Việt Nam in 2021. VNA/VNS Photo Hiển Nguyễn

HÀ NỘI — The Skating Federation of Việt Nam (SFV) has added roller sports as a member sport and hopes to win international medals.

SFV held an online congress on Saturday with participants taking part in the event from Hà Nội and HCM City.

“Roller sports and figure skating have similar characteristics in training and competing regulations and referees,” said Đặng Hà Việt, SFV president.

“Việt Nam is a tropical country so it is difficult to have favourable conditions to train figure skating. More than 90 per cent of professional figure skating athletes originally come from roller sports. Currently, the roller sports movement is spontaneously organised. SFV wants to support the sport so that it can be widely spread through the nation,” he said.

“We also hope to create regular competitions in the community to strongly develop roller which could be a professional sport in the near future.”

Speaking at the event, Trần Đức Phấn, deputy head of the Việt Nam Sports Administration, said: “Figure skating and roller are two sports of the Asian Games and Olympics, and will be named in the SEA Games soon.

“Roller sports are suitable to Vietnamese people’s physique and national facilities. This makes us believe in a brilliant future for the sport. Adding roller sports as a member of SFV is suitable at this time to lift it up as an Olympic sport in Việt Nam.”

In 2020, many tournaments and training courses abroad were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and plans to hire foreign coaches were also delayed.

However, the SFV successfully held on- and off-ice events domestically including the Roller Sports Hà Nội Open and Roller Sports HCM City Open with participants competing in different categories and age groups.

Among them, Nguyễn Nhựt Linh won two gold medals in the men’s 1,000m at the above competitions and Mai Hoài Phương took gold in the men’s 1,500m at the Roller Sports Hà Nội Open.

The federation has selected outstanding athletes to be the national team’s core who will represent Việt Nam at international events.

At the congress, SFV set targets for 2021-23. They will complete its rules and training curriculum for all members; develop skating, speed skating and roller sports nationwide especially in Hà Nội, HCM City, Đà Nẵng and neighbouring provinces; try to have at least 10 teams to take part in annual national championships; search for talented athletes for the national team; improve quality of coaches and referees and strengthen their co-operation with other federations.

Since its establishment in 2018, the SFV has worked with the federations of South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia.

The SFV is an interim member of the International Skating Union.

Their leading figure skating athletes such as Trần Khánh Linh, Nguyễn Minh Trí Anh and Nguyễn Lam Khuê have received international titles and competitions in Việt Nam have attracted competitors from Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Hong Kong.

The federation is also home to the bobsleigh and the skeleton teams that are training in South Korea.

Their membership application submitted to the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation is expected to be approved this summer.

It will allow Vietnamese athletes to take part in world events where they could collect points for the Olympics.

Based on their training result, Trần Thị Đoan Trang could be the first Vietnamese at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China as her category of the monobob has just been added to the Games. VNS