For Viet Nam, 2011 was a fairly successful sporting year. Viet Nam News talked with some officials and athletes about the achievements last year and their plans and dreams for the Year of the Dragon.

Nguyen Minh Phuong, Golden Ball winner 2010, captain of football Super League club SHB Da Nang, and former national player:

 

In the past year football saw positive changes like in the quality of players, their awareness, and so on. And the changes did bring back fans to the sport.

In the new year I will try to play to make it interesting for football fans and achieve good results for Da Nang.

I also wish national teams success at the Southeast Asia Football Championships later this year.

After finishing my career, I want to do something related to football, possibly coaching.

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem, double gold medal winner at the Southeast Asian Games and a winner of the Aeroflot Chess in Russia and US Spice Cup:

 

I will defend my title at the Aeroflot tournament in Russia and HD Bank Open in March, and Southeast Asian Chess Championships, and my goal this year is to enter the world's top 20.

I want to achieve further advancement in my career and complete the goal I set for myself. I wish chess develops further and achieves more popularity in the country with lots of quality players to make Viet Nam one of the top chess countries in the world.

I wish Viet Nam more successes in international sports competitions. I wish my family, my teachers, coaches, and everyone a happy and successful new year.

Nguyen Kim Lan, vice chairwoman of the Viet Nam Gymnastics Federation:

 

The year 2011 was a very successful year for gymnastics, and the success after success [that was achieved] confirmed the quality of our gymnasts as well as the advancement made by Vietnamese gymnastics in general.

The most outstanding were the successes at the [last November's 26th] Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and the Olympic qualifyer. Vietnamese gymnasts put up a brilliant performance to dominate the SEA Games with 11 gold medals.

Phan Thi Ha Thanh and Pham Phuoc Hung won two berths to the Olympics Games in London this summer.

I wish gymnastics remarkable achievements and Thanh and Hung success in London.

Vo Danh Hai, general secretary of the World Vovinam Federation and general secretary of the Viet Nam Vovinam Federation:

 

Vovinam had some important landmarks in 2011 – the organising of the second WVVF World Vovinam Championships and its inclusion in the SEA Games.

The second world championships saw improvement in terms of both quantity and quality. The number of participating countries increased from 14 to 22 and the quality of martial artists improved significantly in comparison with the first championships.

The most noticeable event was that for the first time vovinam, a Vietnamese traditional martial art, was included in the region's largest sports competition, the SEA Games, and contributed to the success of Viet Nam in Indonesia.

The African Vovinam Federation was established earlier this month with 11 nations and tens of thousands of practitioners.

In the new year we will focus on the task of getting vovinam included in the SEA Games in Myanmar in 2013. We will help Myanmar train vovinam artists as well as organise the competition. — VNS