Looking for London: Truong Thanh Hang is among Viet Nam's hopes for Olympic qualification ahead of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics in Thailand on Sunday. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Nhut

HA NOI — Truong Thanh Hang has high hopes for Olympic qualifications ahead of the first round of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics in Thailand tomorrow.

Hang was back in Viet Nam yesterday after training in China for one month, before flying on to Bangkok for the women's 800m event.

"I am determined to increase my speed by training with exercises in 200m, 400m and 600m races," Hang said. "I am in good condition, even better than when I [won a gold medal in] the SEA Games."

The Da Nang City-based racer has demonstrated stable performance during her time in China and set up her own target in Thailand.

"My goal is finishing 800m in 2:01:30," she said, explaing that this would meet the Olympics' B standard.

Training locally, sprinter Vu Thi Huong will accompany Hang to compete in the women's 100m event. Huong has failed in some recent meets and was unable to defend her SEA Games titles last November. She now is under heavy pressure to reach the B standard of 11:38. Huong's personal best is 11.33 set at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2007.

Dinh Thi Viet Anh was also expected to perform well in the women's high jump event. Anh is determined to fly over 1.92m – 2cm higher than her personal best, which brought her SEA Games gold seven months ago.

Anh said her back injury would not affect her perfomance in Thailand.

The second and third rounds of the Asian Grand Prix will be on May 9 in Kanchaburi and May 13 in Nakomratsima. Their last chances will come at the Asian All Star Athletics Meet in Kazakhstan on June 30, at which time Olympics organisers will lock down their list of qualifiers. — VNS