Track-and-field athletes to vie for medals at Asian Championship in Bangkok

Athletics

Nguyễn Thị Huyến competes to win the women's 400m hurdles event at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia last month. She will be one of Vietnam's representatives at the Asian Athletics Championship in Thailand. Photo thanhnien.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will send a 16-strong team to compete at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship in Thailand from July 12-16.

"We have registered 16 athletes and six coaches to participate at the Thai Asian Championship. The final list will be announced later," said Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, general secretary of the Việt Nam Athletics Federation.

Among participants are SEA Games champions Nguyễn Thị Huyền, Nguyễn Thị Hằng, Nguyễn Thị Oanh and Lương Đức Phước.

After the Cambodian SEA Games, Huyền took a gold in the women's 400m hurdles at the Taiwan Open last week. Hằng won in the women's 400m while Phước was a champion in the men's 1,500m at the same event.

Oanh, who made history with four golds at the Phnom Penh Games, withdrew from the Taiwan event at the last minute. Her coaches wanted Oanh to remain in Việt Nam to train for other events including the upcoming continental championship.

The Asian event is expected to see the participation of almost all of the strongest competitors who aim to prepare in the Asian Games in September in China and secure their berths at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It will be the first time that Thailand will host the championships since its inception in 1973 and will be by far the largest athletics event ever organised and held in the country.

"Thailand is honoured to be selected by the Asian Athletics Federation (AAA) to host the 25th Asian Athletics Championships,” said Sun Sarutanont, President of the Athletics Association of Thailand.

“It is a privilege for the country to host the event for the first time ever, something made extra special considering this year marks the official 50th anniversary of the AAA, a landmark occasion,” he added.

Lương Đức Phước celebrates his silver in the men's 800m event in the Cambodian SEA Games. — Photo baodongnai.com.vn

The championships will be held at National Stadium in Bangkok and will serve as the qualification stage for athletes hoping to participate at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on August 19- 27.

It will also serve as an important pre-cursor to athletes who are striving to secure national team qualification and participation at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France next year.

It is the first time the Asian Athletics Championships has been held since 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the 2021 event in Hangzhou, China.

In other athletics news, four Vietnamese athletes will join the 20th Asian U20 Championships 2023 that is taking place on June 4-7 in Yecheon, South Korea. 

The tournament is taking place after three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among Vietnamese, Nguyễn Quốc Thình will compete in the men's high jump, Hà Thị Thúy Hằng in the women's long jump, Lê Thị Thanh Nga in the women's 3,000m steeplechase and Bùi Thị Kim Anh in the women's high jump events.

All of them took part in the National Sports Games last December in Hà Nội and earned remarkable results.

Thình took a silver with his personal best of 2.12m. Nga bagged a bronze in her category with a time of 11min 5.01sec. Hằng placed seventh in her competition debut with a 5.60m jump. Kim Anh ranked fifth with a result of 1.74m.

Athletes arrive in South Korea on June 2 and will have two days of practise before their competitions.

Locally, the National Athletics Championship will be organised in October in Hà Nội. It is an early event for Vietnamese athletes in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games and qualifications for the 2024 Olympics.

According to the Việt Nam Athletics Federation, 50 events will be organised from October 20-28 at the Miếu Môn Sport Training Centre.

There are 24 events each for men and women in running, jumping and throwing, and two mixed events.

Outstanding athletes will be lifted to the national teams for international tournaments.

The National Age Groups Athletics Championship will be organised on June 15-25 in Bến Tre Province.

Athletes will compete for 86 sets of medals in three age groups of 12-13, 14-15 and 16-17. VNS