At the 2018 Asian Games-ASIAD, held in Indonesia, the Vietnamese sports delegation won 5 gold medals, ranked 16/37 overall.
With this achievement, Vietnam ranked fourth in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia (31 gold medals, ranked 4th overall); Thailand (11 gold medals, 11th place) and Malaysia (7 gold medals, 14th place).
Among Vietnam's 5 gold medals, two outstanding gold medals in athletics were Bui Thi Thu Thao (long jump, 6.55m) and Quach Thi Lan (400m hurdles, 55 seconds 30).
In particular, the case of Quach Thi Lan was promoted because her opponent (athlete Kemi Adekoya playing for Bahrain), who won a gold medal, was involved in a doping scandal, so she was stripped of the title. Currently, Quach Thi Lan is also banned from playing because of a doping scandal.
However, even if she gets the right to participate in ASIAD 2023, Lan's achievement is still far behind the Malaysian opponent established at the last 32 SEA Games (with a record of 52 minutes and 53 seconds).
As for the long jump, Bui Thi Thu Thao with a declining performance only won the silver medal at the 32nd SEA Games with a record of 6.13m (43cm loss compared to Thao's own achievement 4 years ago).
At the recent 32nd SEA Games, Vietnam has two records in swimming by Pham Thanh Bao, both in the men's breaststroke; in which the achievement is 1 minute 00 seconds 97 (100m frog) and 2 minutes 11 seconds 45 (200m frog). But compared to the recent achievements of Asian athletes, there is still a long way to go.
Therefore, the hope of earning an ASIAD medal in Vietnam's swimming sport can only depend on swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang.
At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, Vu Huy Hoang's achievement was not really impressive: winning the gold medal in the 1,500m distance with a result of 15 minutes 11 seconds 24, far behind the achievement of 15 minutes 1 second 63 to help him win a silver medal at ASIAD 2018.
Thus, for Huy Hoang to win a medal at ASIAD at the end of the year, it requires a great investment of Vietnamese sports as well as the effort of himself.
Huy Hoang will have to do double duty at ASIAD to strive for a medal and achieve an A standard to participate in the 2024 Olympics (minimum 15 minutes 00 seconds 99, which is even higher than the gold medal at ASIAD 2018).
Among Vietnamese sports that have the potential to win a medal at ASIAD 2023, Taekwondo is expected to succeed with Truong Thi Kim Tuyen. Kim Tuyen won the Asian gold medal and is the biggest hope in the big arenas.
However, Kim Tuyen's biggest obstacle is her Thai opponent Wongpattanakit Panipak, the reigning Olympic and world champion.
Kim Tuyen's main goal is to overcome Wongpattanakit Panipak. To do that, Kim Tuyen needs to overcome both psychological and technical, tactical, and physical barriers.
That needs the great support of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training and the Vietnam Taekwondo Federation.
Kim Tuyen and her coaches had to refer to the experience of male taekwondo fighter Pham Dang Quang, who just succeeded at the 32nd SEA Games.
After three defeats to a Thai opponent, Dang Quang defeated the one who he had lost to twice before - Napat Sritimongkol - to win gold in the men's 63kg category.
Weightlifting is also one of the few sports that can bring the names of Vietnamese athletes to appear at world-class and continental awards ceremonies.
Vietnam have had success with Hoang Anh Tuan, 2008 Olympic silver medallist (56kg); Thach Kim Tuan, who won three bronze medals at the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships; and Nguyen Quoc Toan, who has just broken 3 records in the 89kg weight category (with a total achievement of 345kg at the 32nd SEA Games).
However, this weight class will have little chance to win a medal if compared with the 396kg achievement of Chinese athlete Li Dayin, who won gold at the recent Asian Championships.
Hoang Thi Duyen used to be a candidate to win Olympic medals in 2020 but only won bronze at 32nd SEA Games.
Currently, Vietnamese weightlifting only has hope for young candidate K'Duong - who has just won 3 gold medals at the 2023 World Youth Weightlifting Championships in the men's 55kg category.
At the age of 16, K'Duong broke 3 of his personal records set in 2022. This is the talent of Vietnamese weightlifting, but to become an ASIAD champion requires a special training programme with good experts.
Vietnam also has several events capable of winning medals at ASIAD 2023, such as dance sport, wushu, bicycle, boat racing, etc., but the chances of winning gold are not high.
Entering the top three of Southeast Asia at ASIAD this time requires great efforts of the Vietnamese sports sector. ASIAD and the Olympics are not arenas for the masses.
Here, only talented and professional athletes who are well-trained and continuously at the top can reach the goal.
After Vietnamese sports won the most gold medals at the narrow "games" such as SEA Games, it's time to change the investment strategy and focus on developing Olympic sports.
